Love Conspiracy
by Magical Soul
Summary: Draco's little voice: "... I'll better leave you alone before she starts wondering about your faraway look, that would damage our rep., bad boys don't zone off into lala land. DHr and more
1. A ferret’s indignation

Love conspiracy  
  
Disclaimer: The characters of the Harry Potter books do not belong to me, though I wish they did. I just kidnapped them for my story and invented a few new ones in order to make it more personal. If you want to know them, read the story.  
  
This first chapter is dedicated to my best friends in all the world, Kira (Firegoddess) and Sandra (Lucius Sikilmituile). Thanks for listening to this story in the course of me writing it and for encouraging me to go on. I really love U very much *starts sobbing uncontroled*.  
  
Chapter One: A ferret's indignation  
  
It was a hot day in the last week of August and the sun was shining brightly in the postcard- blue sky. The air above Diagon Alley was filled with voices and laughter from the people walking along it. The happy crowd consisted mostly of students shopping for the soon upcoming term, most of them could be noticed looking forward to it. The few who didn't share the common joviality belonged, no exceptions to be found, to the house of Slytherin, although even some of them, the more human and less self centered among them, couldn't resist that excitement.  
  
Draco Malfoy however, didn't belong to those few and so he walked along Diagon Alley with a bored _expression on his face. He really wasn't happy about the upcoming school year, even though he was to be Head Boy, the fact that his fellow Head Girl would be Hermione know-it -all Granger only made the situation worse. He sneered at the sheer thought of returning to that school full of idiots, that muggle-lover of a headmaster, hero- boy Potter and his three sidekicks, the hot tempered Weasel, the aforementioned bookworm and the Weaselette, also known as hero-Potter's girlfriend. Lost in this trail of thoughts he entered Florean Fortesque's in order to buy himself an ice- cream, only to see Potter and the two Weasels sitting at one of the tables and chatting animatedly with a girl he didn't know.  
  
The girl herself was stunning, she had long, chestnut coloured hair which fell down in soft curls to the small of her waist. She wore muggle clothing, a blue mini skirt and a white tank top which fit her great figure perfectly. Being his charming, gentleman-like self, he immediately decided to approach the table in order to tell the obviously new girl whom to give her sympathy if she wanted to succeed at school (A.N.: you will never change, will you Draco?).  
  
The four youths were in the middle of discussing some funny events and laughing hysterically when suddenly an all too known voice drawled behind them: "Well, what do we have here, the Boy- who lived and his weasel sidekicks, did you finally dump know- it- all Granger?"  
  
"Are you blind or something like that Malfoy?", the pretty new girl asked  
  
"Besides, whatever happened to mudblood?"  
  
"Granger?", he asked incredulously while staring intensively at the girl sitting in front of him.  
  
"Noooo", she answered sarcastically, "I'm Voldie and I'm sitting here with my arch- nemesis, eating some ice- cream while listening to the stupid comments of a self- centered bastard." Draco's blood boiled, he wasn't accustomed to making a fool of himself. He leaned closer to Hermione so that their faces were only inches apart  
  
"If I were you, I'd be more careful Granger", he spat threateningly.  
  
"Else what?", she asked sweetly and rising an eyebrow inquisitively, "Will you transfigure yourself into a ferret and scratch my face?".  
  
At that the other three who had followed the argument so far with interest burst out into an attack of uncontrolled laughter which drew tears into their eyes. This was too much for Draco Malfoy who stormed out of the café, really pissed- off, the laughter chasing him onto the street and, a fact that only rose his anger, without ice- cream!  
  
Meanwhile, inside the parlour, Hermione's friends were silently recovering their composure.  
  
"Wow Hermione", Ron said chuckling, "That was astonishing!"  
  
"Yeah", his sister agreed, "You really gave that git what he deserved"  
  
"And here I was, preoccupied about you because you will have to deal with him more often as Head Girl. But I see that you are perfectly able to defend yourself.", Harry added.  
  
"You still had doubts about that after that incident in third year?", Hermione asked astonished (A.N.: Definition of "that incident", I mean of course the passage where Hermione slapped Malfoy for insulting Hagrid).  
  
Harry laughed "I suppose you are right, you always are anyway." After chatting a little while more, the for youths gathered their belongings and went to the next free chimney connected to the floo- net, so they could travel again to the burrow where both, Hermione and Harry, would be staying until it was time to get on the Hogwarts Express.  
  
A/N: Well then, this was my first chapter! Did you like it?  
  
I must say, I always enjoy good verbal fights in D/Hr fics, they are really fun! (In this context I suggest you to read Tale as old as Time by , one of my favourite fics).  
  
The next chapter will be the train ride featuring another verbal fight between our two favourite characters.  
  
Anyway, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	2. Wonder Ferret author whistles innocently

Disclaimer: Blah,blah,blah, read it in the first chapter  
  
This chapter is dedicated to one of my best friends, Kira. Just like mine, her favourite characters are Hermione and Draco, that's why this new, nice verbal fight (which Mione wins (goooooooo MIONE)) is for her!!!! Thanks for your support and your tips for stories here at ff.net.. Hope that our common project we plan to write with Sandi will come true..Anyway, this is for you. ^_^.  
  
A/N: As you can see, the spacing problem is solved. I don't really know what happened, cause in my computer the whole thing was spaced. Anyway, my friend Lucius Sikilmituile (who is also posting this for me as I can't find the file in my document manager (I had many people looking for it in case I'm just blind or stupid) so I have to send it to her by mail) found a solution and corrected it.  
  
(Errrm, did you understand that, it was pretty confusing..).  
  
Well, now on to the chapter!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter Two: Wonder Ferret (author whistles innocently)  
  
The morning of leaving again for school was very busy at the burrow. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron were running up and down the stairs, in and out of their dormitories, gathering things they still needed to pack, while Percy was complaining about their noise and lack of organisation and Fred and George were making bets about who would be the first to sit down at the breakfast table with them (It didn't come to an agreement though, as both wanted to put their bets on Hermione). Meanwhile Mrs. Weasley was preparing pancackes and whistling a happy tune. It always made her proud seeing her children leave for school (especially since both her youngest children were prefects and in the Quidditsch team, Ginny as Chaser and Ron as keeper). Hermione and harry were like own children for her, she would stand up for them in front of everybody, just like she would do for her own children (A.N.: Yup, even Fred and George, the mischievous two). Two minutes later it was indeed Hermione who arrived first at the table, closely followed by Ginny, Harry and finally also Ron.  
  
"Hurry now children, you only have ten minutes before we have to leave for the station", Mrs. Weasley told them. Hearing her words the four nearly inhaled their food so they were ready just in time. As the platform 9 ¾ were the Hogwarts Express was supposed to leave had recently been connected to the floo- net due to muggles slowly getting suspicious about groups of people hanging around a barrier and suddenly disappearing (A.N.: It took them a lot of time, don't you think?"), they were able to leave home only fifteen minutes before the train started off to their new school term.  
  
One after the other the four of them plus Mrs. Weasley stepped into the fire, threw a hand full of floo powder into it and shouted clearly "Platform 9 ¾ !", only to appear there a second later, greeted by a large crowd of comrades and the welcome cries from their friends.  
  
After saying goodbye to Mrs.Weasley and Harry and Hermione thanking her for letting them stay at the burrow ( "Please my dear children, that was self evident, I hope you will be coming on easter vacations?" ), the group got on the train and settled inside a free compartment, reserving seats for Lavender (Ron's girlfriend) and Parvati (who Lavender could never be seen without, except if she wanted to be alone with Ron of course...). The two girls arrived two minutes later and after greeting each other and Ron and Lavender making a scene as if they had not seen each other for ages ("you don't know how much I missed you", "Not as much as I missed you", "My days were without sun as long as you were not around", "My desperation would have touched a Dementor", etc., etc.) for about three minutes until Hermione audibly cleared her throat, the four girls started talking about the newest fashion, interesting movies they had seen and how good some actors looked. Meanwhile the boys discussed, of course, Quuidditsch, Dean and Seamus soon passing by and joining their conversation. Their journey remained that peaceful for about an hour, until the obligatory visit of none other than Draco Malfoy, king of sarcasm and evil smirks (A.N.: Be careful Malfoy, Hermione is gaining on you on that first point!).  
  
"Look, look", he drawled, "What do we have here? Hogwarts' very own freakshow!"  
  
"Sod off Malfoy", Harry spat at him with enough venom to frighten a cobra.  
  
"But Harry", Hermione joined in innocently, "You can't possibly talk to him like that!", changing into a teasing tone she added, "After all he is a unique wonder of nature, a talking, blind ferret!!. Although, come to think of it, ferrets would also recognize their enemies if they were blind.so let's say a Talking, blind and stupid ferret, even more of a wonder!".  
  
Draco swallowed hard, how dare she speak of him like that? Following an impulse he violently grabbed the collar of her jacket, looked into her eyes and growled dangerously, "I already warned you Granger, dont't try and mess with me or you'll regret it." He noticed her friends were pointing their wands at him "Get the hell away from her Malfoy", Ron threatened him. Hermione on the contrary motioned them to sit down again  
  
"I can handle this cheap excuse for a man myself guys.", she then drew her attention back to Malfoy. When she looked into his eyes which still were full of loathing towards her person she didn't even blink, didn't show the slightest sign of fear, instead she spat back, "Please Malfoy, don't make any impossible threats. You know you can only attack me verbally, and that I can more than easily bear. Any serious corporal attack like you are suggesting would imply loosing your Head Boy badge and, in addition, having to deal with Ron, Harry, and all my fellow Gryffindors. I'm sure you don't want that to happen, do you Draky?", she asked in a mockingly sweet tone (A.N.: Wow! I never thought she could be so mean! Explanation for her new confidence you'll find in chapter five).  
  
Exasperated, the blond Slytherin left the compartment slamming the door shut behind him. After walking a few steps though he had to smirk, he loved verbal fights, sadly (but obviously) his fellow housemates were no match for him, now with these new perspectives, the school year didn't seem to become as boring as he had thought it would be.  
  
A.N.: I know, Ron is behaving a little bit OoC here, but love changes everybody. As I'm a half Argentinian, half German writer who lives in Spain and this is my first fic I hope you'll understand some little mistakes and sometimes the shortage of language. Anyway I hoped you liked my effort which, compared to the masterpiece of J.K. Rowling and the fantastic fics of some authors, is rather poor. But I like it and have great fun writing it and reading it out to my friends one of whom also writes fanfics and posts her own here (Harry/Lucius fics) I'm not so much into her favourite pairings but the fics are good. Please review, no matter if you have criticisms, after all I want to learn and improve my English. ^_^  
  
Sunny summer greetings from Barcelona,  
  
Winterbreath (or Magical Soul like my member name is (I love to make up names, that's why I chose another one as author)).  
  
Answers to your reviews:  
  
First of all I'd like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to write one, it means a lot to me. Then I noyiced I have 8 reviews, but I only received 6 (one I answered personally and one was empty??), so here you have the other four. To the ones I'm not answering here, I'm sorry, but I didn' receive you review. Libby: Thank you for your review, as you can see, the spacing is much better now. I hope you enjoy this chapter.  
  
Books 3: I'm really glad you like the story, it's my first Harry Potter fic (I've got another one here, too, but I started writing this one earlier and then I posted the two first chapters of the stories together). How did you find this chapter? Padfoot the mst king: Well, I did a little bit of research on mst and I agree to your proposition. As they say in Germany, wer nicht wagt der nicht gewinnt (translated: who doesn't dare, doesn't win). I don't think I would be too upset if it was msted, it would be fun to read a parody of my own fic, although I would be proud to have it marauder approved either. Just tell me about you decision and what I must do.  
  
Kassandra 8: I'm always happy to receive a review from a friend (although you had alrady read the chapter and know how it will go on), keep them going. H.D.G.G.G.D.L.  
  
If you wnat to be on the update list, send me your mail address or asigned review. 


	3. Back where they belong

Disclaimer: *Cries heartbreakingly* (does that word exist?) Why don't the Harry Potter characters belong to me???? *sudden change of mood, now laughs maniacally* But I still own the hat's song in this chapter and you'll have to stand it even if you don't like it !!!!  
  
A/N.:This chapter is dedicated to some of my "schoolmates" at the german internet "Hogwarts School", or actually, to those I have contact with (the ones doing their homework (I'm DADA teacher there)), in other words: to our headmaster Hermione, to Gia-Charlotte Faila (Ravenclaw (she's my "twin" (not in reality, only in this school) it's Kira), to Lucius Malfoy (Sandra) and Lord Veldomert (Slytherin) and to Stocky, little Hermine (german for Hermione) and Marry Malfoy (..Gryffindor!!!!). Thank you for the wonderful time you are giving me at our favourite school..and for your eccellent homework.  
  
Chapter Three: Back where they belong  
  
As soon as the train arrived at the station, the prefects and the Head Girl took care of the first years leading them to Hagrid. Draco did most certainly not let himself down to such an un-Malfoy like act, no action that could be rated as friendly came into his mind (at least not yet.^_^ ). When they had delivered the frightened and excited children to the friendly half giant they got on the last carriage towards Hogwarts.  
  
When Hermione and the other prefects crossed the entrance gates of the castle, the girl heard her favourite teacher (McGonagall, who else?) calling out for her. So she told the others to go ahead and save her a seat and approached her Head of House, "Hallo professor, did you have nice vacations?"  
  
"Hallo Ms. Granger, congratulations to your position as Head Girl. Yes, indeed I had very relaxing holidays, thank you. But as I know that you want to join the feast as soon as possible and regarding the fact that I have to go and meet the first years before Peeves arrives and scares their lifes out of them I will make it short. Please come to my office after dinner in order to talk about the responsabilities that are coming upon you. I already talked to Mr. Malfoy about this meeting, so you won't have to do so."  
  
Hermione smiled at the Professor, at least she was getting a few more instances of Malfoy-empty peace before having to deal with him for the rest of the year. "Thanks Professor, I will be there. I'll see you later then!"  
  
Professor McGonagall nodded friendly at her favourite student (even though she would never admit that openly) and walked away to meet the little ones  
  
(A.N.: Every 11 year old child will kill me now, I'm sure!! Sorry, I didn't mean it as an offence, it's just that for an over 70 year old woman quite everyone is little, even me and I'm 18.) After her conversation entered the Great Hall and pre-sorting-ceremony commotion of every year. Her eyes ran along the Gryffindor table until they found her friends who were indeed saving her a seat. They hadn't even been talking for 5 minutes when they heard the new students arriving and the whole room went quiet and hundreds of eye-pairs were locked expectantly on the heavy doors. Soon the first years entered, the silence and "dignity" of their soon to be comrades intimidating them even more (A.N.: How could they know, that only a few seconds before those "dignified students" had acted as if they were attending a Qudditsch match?). Trembling visibly the young students (A.N.: Is this word better?) stood in a row, waiting to be called up and placed into a house. Everybodies eyes lay now on the well known and held dear Sorting Hat, also known as Hogwarts pop-star number one (for lack of competition).  
  
When really everyone was quiet and ready to listen, their beloved Headmaster (well, beloved by most of the students, you already know the exceptions) encouraged it to start his song of every year or rather, his new song as it was never the same. The Sorting Hat began to sing:  
  
"Welcome my children young and old,  
  
To a new year of laughter and studies,  
  
Discover the secrets that Hogwarts holds  
  
And in which house you'll find your buddies.  
  
Gryffindor house holds people brave,  
  
Comradeship is of great importance,  
  
Also is fun till the end of the day,  
  
Sometimes studying comes on shorter.  
  
Hufflepuffs are friendly and kind,  
  
Open to everybody at any time,  
  
No thought of evilness crosses their mind,  
  
With them you get along just fine.  
  
Ravenclaw is for the smart of you,  
  
Who like intellectual conversation,  
  
They learn with ease and like it, too,  
  
But have little time for celebrations.  
  
Slytherin finally is for the cunning,  
  
For the ones who power seek,  
  
Without caring 'bout how it is coming,  
  
Even if this means using the weak.  
  
So come forward without any doubt,  
  
Put the Sorting Hat on your head,  
  
Show no fear and you'll find out,  
  
In which house you'll find your bed."  
  
(A.N.: Sorry, I know the last line of the Slytherin verse was a bit too explicit, but unlike the Sorting Hat I have no practice in this and not a year time!)  
  
When he finished his song everybody, except for the Slytherins (A.N.: I'm repeating myself on this point, am I not?), was clapping enthusiastically and the new kids were staring with awe at the hat which would sort them into their respective houses.  
  
When everybody was quiet again, Professor McGonagall started to call up the students from her list beginning with Anderson, Angelica (a Ravenclaw) and ending with Wilmore Clarence (a Slytherin). The Gryffindors themselves had got 11 new comrades, 6 girls and 5 boys which seemed all to be very nice. When the youngsters were sitting at the tables, Dubledore stood up in order to hold his every year's speech.  
  
"Excuse me everybody, before we start our delicious meal, I would like to make some announcements. To begin with, the Forbidden Forrest is forbidden for everybody. Furthermore, there will be again a Yule Ball this year which can be attended by every student from fourth year upwards. This year we'll have, as always, a new DADA teacher, she will be arriving tomorrow morning before classes begin. And last but not least I would like to congratulate our new Head Girl and Boy, Ms Hermione Granger from Gryffindor (frenetic clapping from Gryffindor; Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw) and Mr Draco Malfoy from Slytherin (excited clapping from Slytherin and out-of -respect clapping from the others). And now that I'm done with my announcements there is only one thing left to say..Let's grab some food!!".  
  
With those words he sat down and bowls filled with different kinds of delicious food started to magically appear on the tables.  
  
Soon the students were eating peacefully under the enchanted ceiling and the light of the floating candles. The Gryffindor seventh and sixth year students were talking about their new DADA teacher.  
  
"So it is a woman again", Seamus said.  
  
"Well, it was a woman who gave us one of the best years up to now." Hermione reasoned in a do-you-want-to-say-women-can't-do-this tone.  
  
"Yes, it is a pity Miss Tonks had to leave," Harry agreed, "She was a really good teacher".  
  
"Well," Ron said, "She left just because she is so good, she was needed to fight against Voldemort along with the rest of those "special agent wizards"" (A.N.: Sounds like a group of James Bonds ^_^. But he means of course the OotP). "I wonder if our new teacher will be as good as her..although, she is a woman, she has to be good," Ginny said with a defiant look directed at Seamus.  
  
"Hey!" the boy exclaimed, "Stop that. I didn't mean that in a chauvinistic way. I do agree completely that Miss Tonks was one of our best teachers, along with professor Lupin."  
  
Hermione and Ginny seemed to be satisfied and nodded approvingly. They went on chatting and eating like that for about an hour until the last dish was empty and everyone was grinning satisfied, then everything magically disappeared and the prefects gathered the younger students together in order to lead them to their common rooms.  
  
A/N: Soooo, this was the third chapter, did you enjoy it? (Not counting the stupid song of course). Well, now the question is.. What will happen in McGonagall's office and..who is the new DADA teacher??? You'll get to know soon enough f you go on reading and reviewing (no reviews, no chapters, I need to know you like it).  
  
Now lets move on to the answers to your reviews. I found a way to get to the missing reviews I wrote about last time (through my stats bar) and so I'm gonna answer them here also.  
  
Dracosgurl_chrissy: I'm glad you like the fic. As you can see, the problem with the spacing is solved. Talking about Tale as old as Time, I hope the author (I can't remember her name right now) writes a sequel, I loved that story. By the way, did you read betrayed? If you liked TaoaT you will like that one, too!  
  
Kkjade: I hope the spacing is better now! As to the verbal comebacks, I love stories which contain nice verbal fights, I'm a pretty sarcastic person myself, you just ask my friends.. * grins evilly * they experienced it many times...  
  
Lucius Sikilmituile: Ein Verbrechen, eine Schande! Deine review war unter denen die ich nicht erhalten habe. Übrigens merkt man nicht, dass die review von einer Freundin kommt, üüüberhaupt nicht! Es freut mich, dass du dieses Fic so gut findest.  
  
Befuzzled: Great that you find this story good, like you wanted I'm updating soon (as soon as I could). I hope you liked the chapter. Althuogh the song wasn't really good..  
  
T baby: It's wonderful that you reviewed the two chapters I have written in one time. That was really cool of you, you don't know how happy you made me, I didn't know my story was worth such an effort. I hope you keep the reviews coming, I'm looking forward to read one of yours again! About English, I really don't know if it's a second or third language, that depends on if I see Spanish and German both as first languages (which I suppose I do) or if I see German as first and Spanish as second. Either way, thanks for you compliment on my use of English.  
  
Crazy-lil-nae-nae: Hey, I like your name! Has it any special meaning? Well, to your review, I'm glad you like my fic (who would't be) and that you think I'm describing the well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reb: don't worry, I'll keep on writing. Your fic left me completely embarrassed (in a good way) I would have never thought of my fic as brilliant. This chapter wasn't really good and (unluckyly) had no verbal fight in it. I promise the next chapter will have one though. I'm looking forward to your next review also.  
  
Sunny summer greetings from Barcelona!  
  
Winterbreath 


	4. M n’M’s, Head duties and a letter

Disclaimer: * pouts * I still don't understand why I can't be the owner of Harry and co.* cheers up * But I still own Arianne!!! You'll get to know her in this chapter, no, she's not the new DADA teacher.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to everybody who reviewed up to now, in other words to: Lucius Sikilmituile, Kitsune Mist and dracosgurl_chrissy.  
  
Please keep the reviews going, I really appreciate them and it makes me happy when I receive one (it would be kind of weird if I didn't, wouldn't it?) I hope you enjoy this chapter which, I believe, is al little bit longer than the others (understament, it's the longest up to now).  
  
Chapter Four: M n'M's, Head duties and a letter.  
  
Meanwhile Hermione made her way to Professor McGonagall's office and waited for the Deputy Headmistress to arrive. Before she did though, another person came around the corner and towards Hermione (A.N.: You have three guesses about who it is),. her favourite arch-nemesis (A.N.: 100 points for the candidate!) (Voldie did not fall under the category favourite not even as nemesis his rating was most hated).  
  
"Granger," he drawled, friendly as ever.  
  
"Malfoy," she replied with just as much love and enthusiasm.  
  
"Strange enough they made a mudblood Head Girl," he went on.  
  
"Well, as far as I know, it's also the first time a talking ferret carries the Head Boy badge." she shot back. (A.N.: Oh, they truly love each other. now).  
  
For the next few seconds they looked into each others eyes with so much loathing that, if looks could kill, theirs combined would have created a global killer (A.N.: I love "Armageddon") and saying this is still an understatement. Before they could jump at each other's throats though, Professor McGonagall arrived, her demeanour that of an angel of vengeance murmuring things like.  
  
"That arrogant, greasy haired git. me having favouritism with Ms Granger. bloody yellow teethed bastard has some with mister Malfoy." As she saw the two youths standing in front of her door and looking puzzled at her she held her thong.  
  
"Mr Malfoy, Ms Granger, I'm glad you followed my plea, please come in and have a seat."  
  
The two entered a room filled with mahogany made furniture. A huge desk loaded with parchments and books stood beside the large windows from which heavy, Gryffindor-red curtains hung. Behind her desk was an astonishingly big bookshelf with lots of different books. Hermione even saw that Hogwarts: A History was among them and seemingly one of the most read, along with. Lord of the Rings ???, she would eventually ask her professor about that and definitely tell Harry, Ron and Ginny .  
  
"Well," the Professor started, "This is basically a meeting to inform you about your duties. You'll have to organise the prefects meetings and in them take care of the Yule Ball, the Valentine's Day Ball and the Leaving Ball. Furthermore you should organise a group of good students who are willing to help the weaker ones solve their comprehension problems and, finally, combine the dates of the Quidditsch matches in a way they don't interfere with important exam dates of the team members. If you have any problems just report them to me or to Professor Dumbledore, it depends on the gravity of the problem, judging it will be your task. The password to the headmaster's office is M&M's."  
  
Draco looked at her questioningly.  
  
"It's a very good tasting muggle candy," Hermione explained, "Oh lord, now I'd like to have some.I'll send an owl to my mother."  
  
"Oooo.K," Draco said and Hermione gave him a death glare.  
  
Professor McGonagall, noticing the tense atmosphere, decided to interfere and cleared her throat: "Well, if you would follow me I'd like to show you your quarters."  
  
"What?" Draco exclaimed shocked, "Our quarters as in both of us sharing the same?".  
  
"Honestly Malfoy, one could think Professor McGonagall was telling you to move into a radioactive polluted area. I'm not too pleased of being that close to you either but we'll have to manage it somehow."  
  
"A true word Ms Granger and I believe Mr Malfoy will also see the need of you two getting along with each other. Now please come with me."  
  
The two enemies followed their professor out of the room and began walking down the corridor. A few meters afterwards they followed her up a staircase, along a new corridor, then they turned left, a few meters further away again, then a few steps down, finally reaching their destination. They were standing in front of a huge portrait of a beautiful young woman dressed in a long, white evening robe. On her head was a crown made of daisies, her long, golden hair was floating in the wind and her big, aquamarine eyes had a sad, longing glimmer in them. As soon as she saw them coming though her _expression changed and she regarded them with a friendly smile and a warm sparkle in her eyes. Hermione felt at once sympathy for her and knew they would become good friends (A.N.: can you become good friends with a portrait?).  
  
"Hello", the woman said in a soft, pleasant voice, "My name is Arianne Conelly, you can call me Arianne, Ari, Anne, as you wish. You must be Draco and Hermione. Welcome to your new quarters."  
  
"Hello Arianne, pleased to meet you," Hermione answered cheerfully while Draco simply nodded at her.  
  
"Your first password is alliance, later you may change it once per month as you wish" (A.N.: Muahahaha! Alliance! Who is insinuating here again?(I'm so evil!))  
  
"Thank you Arianne", Professor McGonagall said  
  
"You are welcome, now you two, say the password and come in, I want to know if you like it"  
  
"Alliance!" Hermione exclaimed laughing.  
  
The portrait swung open immediately and they entered their common room. It was breathtaking, huge windows from which heavy green curtains hung let a great amount of light into the room, comfortable looking red sofas were posted in front of a big marvel chimney above which a Hogwarts banner hung. To each side of the chimney was a door. On the left one, Hermione Granger was written in golden letters and on the right one Draco's name shimmered in silver. On the other side of the room was a big table with two chairs, one had red cushions and a golden lion engraved on the back, the other one had green cushions and instead of a lion, a silver serpent decorated the chair. Behind the studying table was a great bookshelf, just like the one in Professor McGonagall's office, filled with, like she told them, all the books they needed for their studies. On it's left side was a door which their Professor opened allowing the sight on a marvellous bathroom. The marble bathtub was gigantic and, like the one in the prefects bathroom, it had many cocks. Among those only one actually spilled water. The other ones contained rose or lavender essence, an eucalyptus bath for when you had a cold, then there was one which poured a bathing lotion into the water which produced the biggest bubbles you could imagine and they would float above your head, playing the songs "Rebel Heart" or "Green Sleeves", just like you wished (A.N.: Rebel Heart is an instrumental song preformed by The Corrs which I like very much.). There were many other curious bathing lotions, but the most astonishing tap was the one spilling cocoa into the tub.  
  
"Well," stated Hermione when she saw this, "At least I wont have to go to the kitchen every time I fell like drinking some from now on."  
  
When they left the bathroom again, Professor McGonagall excused herself for she still had some work to do. After they had wished each other a good night, Gryffindor's Head of House left the quarters and the youths were only able to hear Arianne's expectant "And? Did they like it?" before the portrait closed behind her retreating back.  
  
The two stood there in awkward silence until Malfoy said: "I'll take a bath now.". With those words he spun on his heels and entered the bathroom. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* When he stepped out again 45 minutes later, he found Hermione sitting at the table and writing something.  
  
"Oh, you are ready?" she asked when she became aware of his presence,  
  
"That's great, I'm dying for a glass of cocoa". She then walked pass him into the bathroom, a plastic glass in her hand (A.N.: Where did she get it from?).  
  
Meanwhile Draco moved casually over to the desk and risked a curious peek on what the girl had been writing, maybe it was some homework he could copy. Noticing it was a letter he got more interested and studied it closer. It read:  
  
Dear Alex,  
  
How are you ?  
  
School has started again and therefore I'm just fine. I miss you terribly though, I really wish you were here and could meet my friends, they are really curious about you since I told them everything we did this summer while I stayed at your place. I also think you would have fun teasing Malfoy with me (thank you again for you extra tips on how to deal with guys like him, it works just fine), he really is an insufferable git.  
  
Oh, now that I think of it, did you already get the results of your graduation exam ? I truly think it's a shame they make you wait the whole summer vacations for it. Anyway, from what you told me I think you'll have great results, if only I think about..  
  
There the letter ended, he had obviously interrupted her writing. Suddenly he heard somebody clear his throat behind him and, caught, he turned around. Hermione stood there, arms crossed over her chest and an ironic _expression on her face: "Did you read anything interesting, Malfoy?".  
  
As he didn't want her to know how curious he had really been, he tried to keep his cool demeanour of everyday.  
  
"No, not really. I'm not interested in your boring affairs with this boyfriend of yours who is obviously a bookworm, just like you."  
  
"Boyfriend?" the smart girl asked, "Oh, you mean Alex! Well, for your information, Alex is not my boyfriend but my cousin and not even a boy."  
  
"Huh?" was Malfoy's intelligent reaction.  
  
"Alex is a gi-irl. Her full name is Alexandra Davies, she is the daughter of my mothers sister and she graduated from Auror College last year.. I really don't know why I'm telling you this. Oh yes, to make you feel like a stupid fool!"  
  
With a grin of satisfaction all over her face she gathered her things and disappeared into her bedroom closing the door pointedly behind her.  
  
Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy stood in the middle of the room feeling very stupid. He had had the intention to make her feel embarrassed, but instead he had been the one who ended up as a fool and this was a situation he couldn't stand. He would make sure to have his revenge, for this and for everything which had happened since the day they had met at Diagon Alley a few weeks before.   
  
A.N.: So, how did you find the fourth chapter? You must excuse my obsession for authors notes during the text, but the story flows out of me naturally without me thinking very much about it. This creates the urge in me to comment on what I'm writing and comes out just as naturally as the story.  
  
What do you think about Arianne? Wondering why she looked sad? Her story will be explained later, when I have some space left. It's already in my mind, but no hints will be given, you'll just have to wait. The only thing I know is that I will write it down when Hermione and Draco are already friends which may happen around chapter 15 or so perhaps 14, so the story may appear in chapter 16/17.. Alex is the second character owned by me, she's mine, my preciousssssss, O.K., I think I'm drifting a little bit of the topic (and that I saw "Lord of the Rings" far too many times). Now that I already own Arianne and her I'm much more happy, but there will come more, soon you'll meet the first guy..  
  
Wonder what Malfoy intends to do to get his revenge? I do, too. Didn't think about it yet. I'll see when heavenly inspiration strikes me again (OMG I'm being poetic) a thing which usually happens when I'm under the shower or in bed.  
  
When are you inspired for your fanfics?  
  
Please tell me when you REVIEW!!!!! Noooo, this isn't a hint.  
  
Answers to your reviews:  
  
Lucius Sikilmituile: So much compliments... I'm flattered! I don't know if I should take them serious though, after all, you are my best friend ^_^.. But I'm taking your threat seriously, so here you've got a new chapter (oooooof, I don't have to buy new locks!).  
  
Kitsune Mist: I don't think you are reading this, but I'm going to answer to your review anyway. I'm not mad that you think Draco/Hermione is an impossible couple, everybody has his own opinion, I for example don't like Hr/H or Hr/R cause I find them .. I don't know, weird perhaps, I mean they are too good friends to be a couple! But that's my opinion. What I like about D/Hr fics is the challenge of how to bring them together. Last but not least I want to thank you for your compliment on my writing style, it made me very happy (who wouldn't be when he hear he has talent).  
  
Dracosgurl_chrissy: First of all, thanks for your two reviews, I was really happy about them! In this chapter there happened a little bit more and in the next chapter the new DADA teacher will appear, I hope you (and all the others) will like her. Btw, thanks for telling me about the sequel of TAOAT, I hadn't seen it up to then, it's really good. I like fics where Ron acts like an idiot because of Malfoy, I mean, he would probably if Hr and D became a couple, look how he reacted with Krum and he was a fan of him, he didn't hate him like he does Draco. I hope you like Betrayed, it's pretty long and it's unfinished, so there's plenty of story left (I especially like the introduction, it's so funny!).  
  
Some comments to people who didn't review the last chapter but whom I have something to tell.  
  
T baby: Sorry that I didn't send you an update notice! I tried but my computer, (or rather my yahoo e-mail account) told me your ID didn't exist. I will try to send you an update notice again with this chapter and I hope it works, if not, please don't be mad at me. Perhaps in that case it would be helpful if you sent me your mail address again.  
  
Books3: My gift of sight and my crystal ball (also known as my stats bar) told me that you put me on your favourites list. I'm really, really honoured and flattered, seeing that was a dream come true (I never thought I would be on a favourites list when I posted this story).  
  
So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ^_^.  
  
Sunny autumn greetings from Barcelona,  
  
Winterbreath 


	5. DADA teacher surprise

Disclaimer: O.K. Slowly I'm getting used to the idea that I will never * sob * ever *sob * own Harry Potter or one of his mates.. But it's still hard, so please, don't mention it!!!! As Snape has a role in this chapter (and makes a fool of himself, just like Draco (again) * grins evilly *) I'm dedicating it to Lucius Sikilmituile, I'm also doing this because, without her, this fic wouldn't be on the net.  
  
So, this is for you Lusiki (^_^), I hope you like it, you really are the best and I hope the project (meanwhile projects) we have planned with Kira come true. (One is an adaptation of Star Wars under the category Parody/Humor which will be called HogWar(t)s.. but it will be written in german.  
  
Chapter Six: DADA teacher surprise  
  
The next morning Hermione met her friends on top of the staircase which lead to the Great Hall.  
  
"Good morning Hermione, how was your first night with Malfoy?" (Harry throws warning glare to every reader who may have perverted thoughts about his comment).  
  
"Did he torture you too much?" Ron asked while they descended the stairs. Hermione simply shook her head.  
  
"See boys, I told you she would be all right!" Ginny said grinning.  
  
They were about to enter the Great Hall, when Hermione stopped dead, turned left on her heels and began to run towards a young woman about the age of twenty, who had shoulder long, auburn hair, dark green, sparkling eyes and was currently talking to a portrait.  
  
"ALEX!!!!" they heard Hermione shout. The young woman turned around and, seeing her cousin, smiled broadly.  
  
"Hello Mione!" she said with a strong american accent while they hugged tightly. Then Hermione waved her friends over to them and introduced the four to each other.  
  
"It's really nice to meat you Alex. But, excuse the question, how come this happened. I thought you wanted to become an Auror.. At least, that's what Hermione told us!" Ron inquired.  
  
"Well, I absolved my Auror training last year, but, when I received a letter asking me to become DADA teacher here at Hogwarts about four weeks ago, curiosity got the best of me. Besides, this is the perfect way to see my favourite cousin more often."  
  
"You're really going to be our new DADA teacher? Cool!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"What do we have here?" a voice drawled beside them , "Already trying to get new members for your fan club Potter?"  
  
"Shut up Malfoy!" Harry hissed .  
  
"So you are Draco Malfoy, the self centered bastard?" Alex asked looking at him inquisitively.  
  
"The one and only!" Draco answered bowing gentlemanlike in front of what he thought to be a very atractive young woman. "Hmmm," he thought, "she looks familiar to me.".  
  
"My name is Alexandra Davies. I'm Hermione's cousin," she explained offering him her hand.  
  
"Oh_My_God!" Draco thought while shaking it (A/N.: I know, I know. It's totally OoC for Draco to shake a muggleborn's hand. Let's say it's due to his momentary brain breakdown because he was reminded of his embarassement last night.)  
  
"Malfoy read the letter I wrote to you yesterday, without asking me of course, he doesn't seem to know anything about the privacy of correspondance. Anyway, he thought you were my boyfriend."  
  
"Well, if I was a boy I'd love to have you as a girlfriend, but I'm a girl."  
  
"And you already have a boyfriend," Hermione added.  
  
"Well, he can't be very much of a wizard if he's in love with a mudblood!" Draco said with a sneer.  
  
"Better a mudblood who is loved by someone, than a despised, arrogant, pretentious pureblood," the woman shot back.  
  
"What did I just hear?" a man with black, greasy hair and bad teeth. very bad teeth. who had just been walking past them asked angrily, "I don't tolerate my students insulting each other, 20 points from Gryffindor!"  
  
"First," Alex answered, "I insulted him in self defence, and second, you can't take points away from Gryffindor because of me."  
  
"And why not if I may know it?"  
  
Alex was just about to answer when Dumbledore approached them.  
  
"Ahhh, Professor Snape, I see you have already met our new DADA teacher?"  
  
"New. DADA teacher?" Snape asked confused while Draco paled (A/N He didn't have a good start with her).  
  
"Yes, miss Davies here is going to be our new DADA teacher. She just graduated from the Hellmouth Auror Academy also known as the H.A.A in Sunnydale California. I believe your nephew also studied there?"  
  
"Yes!" Professor Snape answered proudly, "He was second best of his class and that academy is the world's most demanding after all!"  
  
"So you are Zack Seimoure's uncle?" Alex asked  
  
"You know him?"  
  
"Yes!" Alex answered lifting her right hand showing a beautiful ring, "We are betrothed!"  
  
"W-what? Snape asked his face turning a nice shade of green, "You are the one who finished first of the class and fought 12 vampires in her final exam?"  
  
"Oh, please, don't remind me of that! That whole day was horrible. I had a headache and my menstruation, a friend of mine had borrowed my favourite white jacket without asking and had poured red wine over it. In addition I was the last to be examined and so it was night when my turn came. The lights from the training grounds attracted mosquitoes and I got bitten at least 100 times. When I had to fight Gryndilows (A/N: I'm not sure about the spelling), my watch stopped although it's supposed to be water proof. If that wasn't enough, those 12 vampires attacked me although they didn't belong to the exam task. At that time I was really pissed off and let my anger out on them, perhaps it wasn't very nice of me to do, but we'll never find out if they were upset about it. Finally, my last task for the exam was to fight a boggart."  
  
"What did he transform into?" Ron asked.  
  
"A life singing Enrique Iglesias. That's a muggle singer, a really bad one," she said noticing the questioning glances of those who didn't have contact with the muggle world.  
  
"What did you do to him?" Harry inquired  
  
"Well, first I made his voice disappear, then I dressed him in a pink ballerina dress and made him dance the Nutcracker suite."  
  
Hermione and Harry took a second to picture this and burst out laughing. Malfoy, who felt ignored and, belonging to the family he did, liked to be the centre of attention, decided to take part in the conversation.  
  
"How can miss Davies be our DADA teacher when she is related to Granger?"  
  
"Well, I put miss Davies under the Justitia charm. It's a charm which can only be removed by the spellcaster and won't allow her any favoritisms," Dumbledore explained, "Now, if you would excuse us, I'd like to show miss Davies her classroom , her office and her quarters before classes start. I believe you'd also like to have breakfast first?"  
  
The youths nodded and separated from Alex until their second and third period that morning where they would have her in what was going to be her first lesson as DADA teacher at Hogwarts.  
  
A/N: First of all I'd like to apologize to all the Enrique Iglesias fans I might have insulted in this chapter. But, though some of his songs are quite nice, personally I think his voice is horrible.  
  
Well, how did you find the chapter. Did you expect Alex to be the new DADA teacher? What do you think about her being betroathed to Snape's nephew? You'll find out about him in the next chapter, as you know from the summary he'll be the one helping Alex to bring Hermione and Draco together.. Zack will visit during winterbreak, that's when the real conspiracy starts.. But you'll have to wait for it  
  
Like I already said, the next chapter will be shortly explaining Alex' background, the one after that will show their first lesson on the morning, Care of magical creatures..  
  
Review pleeeeaaaaaaseeeeee!!!!!  
  
Commenting the chapter by Winterbreath (Wb.) and Lucius Sikilmituile (L.S.)  
  
Wb.: What do you think about the chapter?  
  
L.S.: Oh, you already know that I love it, don't you? I always love your chapies!!!  
  
Wb.: And what about Snape, did you enjoy that or do you want to kill me for embarrassing him publicly?  
  
L.S.: You were sitting beside me, weren't you? It's one of the best scenes of this fic up to now! I really enjoyed it! It was sooooooooooooooooooo great to see him suffer!!! Muahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!  
  
Wb.: I thought you liked him... but, I like Draco and embarrass him also, so I guess we are the same! Such things happen when you spend too much time (9 years) together!  
  
L.S.: What!!!!???? You think we can ever spend too much time together??? O.K. It's the last time you come and visit me!!!!  
  
Wb.: Oh! Stop that soap-opera imitating, you know how I meant it! I could never be sick of your presence or of Kira's, I like you two too much. ... Even though sometimes I don't know why...  
  
L.S.: *looks at Wb. Like she's going to strangle her again* Really?!? Then O..K... But back to Snape, oh, yes, I love him, he's the best, he's great, he's wonderful...  
  
Wb.: *grabs keyboard away from L.S.* That's enough! If you are acting like that with Snape I don't know what you will do when Lucius appears! *looks terrified*  
  
L.S.: *has keyboard back* Haha!!! It's mine now, my precioussssssssssssssss!!!!!  
  
Wb.: Ermh.. Yes, no Lord of the Rings for you till the third part comes out!!!!! I think I'll take her to a psychiatrist now, she has serious problems... But first, the answers to your reviews!  
  
L.S.:* grabs the keyboard and hits Wb. On the head with it* I'm free, I'm free! And you are never telling Lucius that I'm acting this way with Snape. I don't guarantee for him if he knows (muahahahaha!!!!!) The only reason you are not dead is that you can go on writing.*evil grin*  
  
Wb.: *sweatdrops* Whatever....  
  
Answers to your reviews:  
  
Lucius Sikilmituile: Thanks for your review! But I'm sad you thought I wanted to kill you! I'd never do that! Unlike you... *ducks under table because of evil glare* It was nice commenting this chapter with you! I hope we can do this again sometime!  
  
Arrow-card: I was glad to receive such a super long review! *grins* don't get me wrong, I was really happy, I'm happy about every single review which tells me the story is good, length doesn't matter... And I mean that seriously!  
  
Dracosgurl_chrissy: Well, what did you think about the new DADA teacher, did you expect her to be Alex? I hope you didn't have to wait too long for the new chapter. Concerning your search for new fics, feel free to look up my favourite stories list whenever you want ^_^.  
  
Cat - chan: Wow! Eine review auf deutsch die nicht von einer meiner Freundinnen stammt! Das ist echt cool! Ich hoffe ich höre öfters was von dir! Schön, dass dir der song vom sprechenden Hut gefallen hat, ich hatte ehrlich gesagt meine Zweifel, doch wenn es bei den Lesern ankommt.. Übrigens will ich bald ein Hermine/Draco fic auf Deutsch posten, wenn du willst, sage ich dir bescheid sobald das erste chapy im Netz ist, es wird ein Märchen (Romance/Fantasy) genannt "Die drei Königreiche".  
  
Note to t baby: I tried everyhtig to send to that damned update notice. I tried with t baby@yahoo.de with t_baby, with t-baby and with tbaby, nothing! Absolutely nothing! Neither of the ID existed according to my e- mail account! I'm really, really sorry!  
  
Sunny autumn greetings from Barcelona ^_^  
  
Winterbreath 


	6. Discussing Alex and introducing Mione's ...

Chapter Six: Discussing Alex and introducing Mione's new best (girl)friend.  
  
During breakfast Hermione was the centre of attention as word has spread quickly that she was the new DADA teacher's cousin. A huge crowd had formed around her and people asked her to tell them about Alex.  
  
"Well, she just graduated first of her year from Hellmouth Auror Academy in Sunnydale California, before that she went to Culturefusion School for Mystical magic which is located in the Grand Canyon," Hermione started her explanation.  
  
"Culturefusion?" Ginny asked confused, "Does that have a special meaning?"  
  
"Actually yes. The school was founded by three Indian shamans and two English wizards who had arrived with the Mayflower in order to organise the start of a wizarding community there. When they found out about the shamans they thought it would be good the children learn the best out of the two ways of magic and so the two cultures fusioned providing both Indian and English children with the best education they could get."  
  
"So they have five houses instead of fore?" Dennis Creevey asked eagerly.  
  
Hermione nodded: "The houses are Bearpaw, Snakemind, Hawkspirit, Wellington and Sheridan. Alex and her fiancé were in Hawkspirit which is somewhat like a mix between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor if we go by our stereotypes."  
  
"And Snakemind would be Slytherin?" someone asked.  
  
"No, not at all. Snakemind was one of the Indian founders. Indians have far too much respect for life and nature to be in a house which is always seen in relation to the Dark Arts. The equivalent would probably be Wellington. History says he did discriminate muggleborns and that's why he got sent to America although he didn't want to, it was either that or loosing his high position in the Ministry. Sheridan on the other hand was a great adventurer who wanted to discover the new world, so he signed in on his own free will. The Ministry gladly accepted as he was the perfect counterpart to Wellington, he would take care that both pure blooded wizards and the children of muggles where treated with the same respect. But, much like here there are some exceptions and not all Wellingtons are evil, in fact, one of Alex' best friends was a member of Wellington, his name is Ling and he is the son of the Chinese representative at the WWO, the World Wizarding Organisation which is located in new York like the muggle UNO."  
  
"O.K., O.K., enough now of history, lets move to more interesting matters," Lavender said.  
  
"Exactly!" Parvati chimed in, "Is it true that your cousin is getting married to Snape's nephew?"  
  
Hermione laughed, this was typical for Parvati and Lavender, they were as boy crazy as ever (even though Lav was with Ron)  
  
"Yes it is!"  
  
"And?" Parvati asked," is he as ugly as Snape?"  
  
Mione shook her head smiling: "Not at all, he is really good looking. He has dark black hair which he washes regularly, deep blue eyes and.. Most important, white teeth. He's also a rally nice guy who'll always help you and cheer you up!"  
  
"Hmmm, sounds great... Do you know if he has a brother our age?" Ginny asked dreamily.  
  
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed.  
  
Ginny smiled at him: "I was only kidding Harry!"  
  
"Well, he doesn't have a brother, but he has a sister who is our age. Her name is Jeanne. I think you'd like her Ron, she a terrific chess player! Although.. She has a pet spider.."  
  
Ron made a disgusted face while everyone laughed partly remembering his frightened _expression when faced with spiders, partly thinking of how he treated his boggart back in third year.  
  
Soon it was time to walk to care of Magical Creatures, this year again with the Slytherins.  
  
Hermione groaned mentally thinking about what beast Hagrid would confront them with this year.  
  
She was walking down the path towards class when she heard someone call out her name, turning around she saw her best friend, Pansy Parkinson running towards her.  
  
(A/N: "You weren't expecting that, were you?").  
  
Hermione stopped and waited for her to catch up thinking about how their odd friendship had developed. It had all started before their sixth year, with an affair which had hanged Pansy's life forever. It had been all over the newspapers.  
  
Ministry member sent to Azkaban for nearly beating his wife to death  
  
Last Friday Mathew Parkinson, a high ranked member of the Ministry of Magic was sent into Azkaban for nearly beating his wife to death. Apparently Parkison was a Death Eater and had long since been passing information to the dark Lord. Reliable sources say his wife, a faithful member of the light side found out and didn't want to put up with it. She his cover to the Ministry handing in some evidence and later asked for the divorce when she was at home again. Outraged and wanting to get revenge he cast the stunning spell on her and started beating her up, leaving her then behind to bleed to death, as they were in her private chambers and the house elves didn't go in there if she didn't ask them to, he disapparated and was later found hiding in Knockturn Alley. It was pure luck that her daughter, Pansy Parkinson returned a day earlier from her visit to a friend and found her mother soon enough so that her life could be saved. Hermione clearly remembered that article, she had been shocked! When Pansy had completely changed in their sixth year it didn't surprise her much, such events could change everybody. The blond girl was now friendly to everybody, especially muggleborns. While the Slytherins started avoiding her and the others were weary of the change, thinking it might be some trick at the beginning (not everybody read the Daily Prophet) Hermione accepted the change and was friendly to Pansy, soon becoming her friend and confident. From the second half of sixth year everybody had accepted the change and Pansy had been incorporated in the group which was Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Parvati and Luna, becoming Hermione's best (girl)friend.  
  
As soon as Pansy had reached Hermione's side the two linked arms.  
  
"Hey Mione! Sorry that I didn't come to see you at breakfast, but everything around you as so crowded." she greeted her friend smiling.  
  
"No problem Pans! Say, how's living in Hogsmeade and not having to catch the Hogwarts Express?"  
  
"Great! An additional day in which to sleep in!"  
  
After her father had been jailed Pansy and her mother had decided to break all tides connecting them to their former life and move from their old house into a new one. After much searching which forced Pansy to stay in school during winter and Easter break (at least she had Harry, Ron and Hermione with her) her mother found a nice house in Hogsmeade shortly before the summer vacation. Hermione had spent some of her time before flying to America over at their place, helping them get settled  
  
"By the way," Pansy said, "Mom wants us to come over during our next Hogsmeade visit. She's grown quite fond of you on your visit this summer!"  
  
"Of course we will go! Your mother is a great person, I'd like to see her again, too."  
  
Chatting amiably the two girls continued their way till they reached Hagrid's hut. The friendly half giant was already waiting, a huge box from which strange, scratching noises emerged, standing beside him.  
  
A/N: O.K., that was a purely informative chapter, no action. In the next chapter we'll have care of magical creatures and solve the box mystery. What do you think about the whole Pansy thing, did you expect that?  
  
Pansy: "It is about time that people saw I'm not the bitch they think I am"  
  
Mione: "Honestly, you people shouldn't have so much prejudices!"  
  
Me: "Well, in this fic you are a perfectly nice person Pansy."  
  
Pansy: "Thank you very much! And also thank you Mione for being such a good friend"  
  
Mione: "Awwwww" *hugs Pansy*  
  
Me: "O.K., now I'll answer the reviews"  
  
Pansy: "And then write the new chapter of Albus Angels!"  
  
Mione: "Yeah, remember you got an Avada Kedavra threat!"  
  
Me *shudders* : "Yeah.. I'm lucky I already started the new chapter, But I pretty much suffer of lack of inspiration now. At least I already wrote how Ginny kicked that guys ass for groping her."  
  
Pansy: "Hehehe, I can't wait till that chapter is on the net!"  
  
Mione: "Gooooo Ginny!"  
  
Me: "Rather go Voldi, as in go away, that guy is my (self invited) guest in the other fic. He doesn't seem to want to leave. Oh well *sighs* at least he's afraid of me *grins evilly* and, in that fic, only a ghost *overly evil grin*  
  
Answers to your reviews:   
  
Dracosgurl_chrissy: Found anything interesting on my favourites list? I hope you did (I especially like Sympathy for the Slytherin although it hasn't been updated for qiute a while now). I hope you enjoyed this (rather informative) chapter. The next one will have more action. What are those creatures in the box...????? You'll find out soon (I hope!)  
  
Rebecca89: Well, I already reviewed your fanfic a few times now (you're updating much faster than I am with my inspiration problems.). It's really good stuff, just keep it coming (I put you on my author's alert list so I always know when you put a new chapter in the net!).  
  
Cat-chan: Visiting me wouldn't help you much (wetterlich gesehen (wetterlich, meine alte Deutschlehrerin hätte mich gekillt, zum Glück hab ich das Abi schon hinter mir)) It's been gray and rainy for weeks. You are right, it's somehow funny (and ironic) that Mione will be related to Snape in a way once Zack and Alex are married (I think you'll really like Zack he's one nice guy). Zu den Reviews.. Du kannst sie in der Sprache schreiben nach der dir gerade ist (ausser so was wie Chinesisch oder Russisch oder so, dann versteh ich nämlich kein Wort). So, an dieser Antwort macht sich mal wieder mein Klammertick bemerkbar (ich schreib manchmal sogar drei oder mehr in einer.). Jedenfalls, review weiter, ich freue mich immer darauf.  
  
Rainy autumn greetings from Barcelona,  
  
Winterbreath ^_^ 


	7. Tibbelupps and Necromancy

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and my Ocs!  
  
A/N: I dedicate this chapter to everyone who reviewed! That's: PRONGSLOVER, feltonlover88, Vallierie, ProwlingKitKat, Queen Cari, JuNiSGiRl, G.M., Brytani Anmylica Cain, dracosgurl_chrissy, Supreme Neo Countess  
  
Pansy: "That's quite a lot of people!"  
  
Me *beaming*: "I know!"  
  
Mione: "And to think they are reading a story in which you'll pair me with that arrogant bastard!"  
  
Me *grinning*: "That's what you say now, he'll change!"  
  
Pansy: "If I could, then he can, too!"  
  
Me: "Right, now on with the story. By the way Pansy, did you tell Mione how you sent  
  
Voldi into the orbit?"  
  
Mione: "No she didn't! Explain!"  
  
Pansy: "Well, while I was visiting Winterbreath in her other story ." *begins to tell story*  
  
Me: "While she tells Mione I'm gonna write this chapter, enjoy!"  
  
Chapter Seven: Tibbelupps and Necromancy  
  
Last chapter..  
  
Chatting amiably the two girls continued their way till they reached Hagrid's hut. The friendly half giant was already waiting, a huge box from which strange, scratching noises emerged, standing beside him..  
  
"Why don't I like those noises a bit?" Pansy asked Hermione in low voice.  
  
"I don't know!" she answered, "Could it be because of an unpleasant experience with certain blast ended screwts back in fourth year?"  
  
"Why girls!" Harry's voice came from behind them in a mock indignant tone, "Are you implying the screwts were ugly and scary?"  
  
"Harry's right! They are like. totally cute and adorable!" Ron said grinning mischievously.  
  
"Yeah!" Hermione agreed sarcastically, "It was seeing them and wanting to cuddle them!"  
  
"Your voicing my exact thoughts!" Pansy said smiling.  
  
"Why. I thought you said they will probably be useful to heal some horrible illness! Did the high and mighty know it all queen of all mudbloods make a mistake? I'm shocked!" an all too known voice drawled behind them in mock incredibility.  
  
Without even looking at the person behind her Hermione answered: "Sod off. Lord of the Ferrets!"  
  
Harry and Dean (all the Gryffindors were standing together) burst out laughing as did Pansy who had read the book by Hermione's recommendation, the others looked a bit puzzled.  
  
"I'll explain to you later!" the Head Girl told them.  
  
By that time everybody had arrived and Hagrid cleared his throat to catch his student's attention.  
  
"G' mornin' class! Today we have somethin' completely new. A species jus' discovered by the Minstry in Asia. They have no time researching 'em themselves with You-know-who still free and everythin', so they allow us ter do 'em as a kind o' research project. They're called Tibbelupps, cute li'l things. Jus' come and take a look at 'em."  
  
Cautiously the students moved towards the box, they had had too many interesting experiences with what Hagrid called "cute little things". To their amazement however, there really were cute little things in the box, in fact they were the most adorable, fluffy, cuddable little things they had ever seen. The small creatures were about the size of a small bunny and had a long, shimmering fur, each in a different colour. From white to black almost everything was represented. Their hind legs and the form of their heads were like those of a bunny, but their front paws were shorter and they had fingers, like for example a racoon. In fact, the whole creature looked like a cross between a rabbit and a racoon for it also had short, pointy ears and a long, striped, fluffy tail. The twenty three little Tibbelupps (there were enough left for the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs) looked at the gazing and partly oohhing and aahhing crowd gathered around them with huge eyes and shivering with fright.  
  
"Ohhh," Parvati whispered, "They are afraid! Poor things!"  
  
"They would be! They were foun' in caves deep in the mountains. Pro'bly never seen people before. They're only accustomed ter the Ministry people."  
  
"How did the Ministry find them?" Dean asked curiously.  
  
"Well, they had been reported about some strange happenings aroun' there. Thought it might be Death Eaters. They only found these li'l ones though."  
  
"Do they have any magical powers?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Apparen'ly their presence can calm down the mos' hysteric an' nervous person. Made the experience 'emselves the Ministry people."  
  
"Oh Great! What an accomplishment! Wait a minute. compared to the blast ended screwts they are an accomplishment!" drawled an all too known voice in the crowd. Hagrid ignored him.  
  
"Well, if yeh don' have any more questions I'll explain what yeh have ter do. Basically it's the same we had with the screwts. Fin' out what they eat an' when, how they like ter be treated an' all that, I prepared some boxes with different kinds o' food behind the hut. By the way, the Ministry also foun' out they like to choose a person 'emselves, so jus' put yer hands in an' wait for one ter come."  
  
After everyone had a Tibbelupp, they had a very amusing lesson in which they found out that the Tibbelupps were cuddle addicts, vegetarians and loved Sugar Quills (after Goyle's had stolen one from his pocket and eaten the whole thing in a nanosecond and they had looked if the others would do that, too).  
  
"They are some of the cutest things I've seen in my life!" Pansy said stroking her royal blue Tibbelupp (with black stripes) she had given the name Bonnie.  
  
Hermione nodded in agreement while feeding her white, almost silver one (with light grey stripes) a mushroom. "I still have no name for mine though, and Hagrid said that's important so they create a bond with us."  
  
"Don't worry Mione, you'll come up with a name sometime soon!" Ron comforted her while he tried to keep his Tibbelupp, Nosy, from sticking his nose into the pocket of his robes, a habit which had earned him his name.  
  
"Yeah, Ron's right" Harry agreed while playing "chase the Sugar Quill" with his dark grey and black Jolly Jumper, "Perhaps it would help you to think about what he reminds you of."  
  
"Well, from the colours he reminds me of an animal living in the North or South Pole, or rather a cub. Hey! What about Cubby?"  
  
"Cute!" squealed Lavender, "That fits definitely!"  
  
Beside her, Parvati nodded fervently.  
  
"Well then, Cubby it is, what do you think about it little one?" she asked smiling down at the small being in her lap.  
  
Cubby looked up at her through sapphire blue eyes, gave a short melodic sound which seemed of approval and rubbed his small head against her hand.  
  
"He seems to like it," Neville said, grinning.  
  
"That's enough for me!" Hermione answered.  
  
Then she looked around to see what the others were doing, she smiled at how everyone seemed to have "fallen in love" with their assigned creature, even Millicent Bullstrode, a Slytherin girl with the fame of being reserved and sour tempered was playing with her Tibbelupp, a smile on her face. Then her eyes fell upon Draco Malfoy who sat there with a straight face, stroking his little one, which was of a shiny mahogany black with barely recognisable night blue stripes, without even looking at him. Suddenly the small creature rose on his lap, put its front paws on his chest and licked his face catching Draco's attention. The boy looked down at the Tibbelupp, a shocked _expression on his face and the animal responded by looking him in the eyes. Then, Hermione couldn't believe it, a tiny smile crept upon the Slytherin king's face which was almost instantly hidden behind a scowl. But still, Hermione noticed, the boy now turned his attention towards the Tibbelupp while stroking it at even spoke to it in a hushed voice.  
  
The young Head Girl then looked at her friends to see if any of them had also witnessed the unlikely scene but found everyone of them occupied, except Pansy who was also looking over at Draco, grinning. Upon noticing Hermione looking at her she turned her attention towards her best friend who nodded her head towards Malfoy and grinned, rising her eyebrows. Pansy nodded, indicating she had understood and grinned even wider, there really was a heart under all that pure blood attitude of Draco Malfoy's. someone tell the Daily Prophet!  
  
It was the first time ever that, at the end of the class, the students gave their assigned creatures back reluctantly and some even asked Hagrid if they could come down in between and after classes to look after "their little ones". The half giant was beaming with joy at his student's interest and agreed immediately (although he didn't understand what those Tibbelupps had the blast ended screwts didn't have).  
  
Slowly the students made their way back to the castle, rather wanting another Care of Magical Creatures lesson than.. Wait a minute! Next was DADA, with Hermione's cousin! When that realisation had dawned on every student they were much more eager to arrive at their destination and ended up being in the classroom, which was, surprisingly, open, five minutes too early.  
  
After they had found seats they found suitable (mainly Griffindors in the front and Slytherins in the back) they proceeded to whisper excitedly among themselves, wondering what their teacher would be like. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Pansy who were sitting in the very front row were talking about Hagrid's lesson as they knew everything about Alex through Hermione. Several students had tried to ask her more about her cousin, but she had merely smiled secretively and said "You'll see.", so they had resumed to talking to themselves again. Suddenly the door connecting the classroom to the teacher's office and quarters opened and a dead silence fell over the class as the young woman some of them knew by sight descended the stairs.  
  
When she arrived at the bottom she faced them all, smiling an extremely pretty smile which made some boys wish she wasn't betrothed.  
  
"Well, Hello everybody! Welcome to your first DADA lesson of the year and my first DADA lesson as a teacher ever. I therefore daresay, that I'm way more nervous than you are! Before we begin I'd like to get something straight, don't call me Professor Davies, it would make me feel damned old. In fact, my proposition is that we leave all that surname thing aside and call each other by the first name, I personally think it will create some trust between us, cause I don't want to be just your teacher, I want to be your friend. I want you to know that you can come to me if you have a problem which isn't necessary scholar but personal, I'll help you with what I can and keep quiet. I believe a second name basis would make such a relationship much more difficult. If anybody has something against being called by his first name he can say it and I'll call him by his surname. He or she can then decide how they want to call me cause I know that it might be strange for you as you've been calling teachers Professor and by the second name for all of your life. So, has anybody got a problem with it?"  
  
After her speech Alex looked around her expectantly and smiled when nobody raised her hands. Even the Slytherins had been impressed by her words and found her idea extremely cool, it would be feeling equal with her and, being Slytherins, they preferred that to feeling slightly inferior like with the other teachers. The Griffindors immediately started to see her as a friend and confident, like she said, someone who would help them if they needed it.  
  
"Great, then I'll check the list and start to learn your names. Hmmm. lets see, where did I put that damned list.," she mumbled rummaging through her bag, "Ah! Here it is!" she cried triumphantly pulling it out of the depths of her bag.  
  
"Well then, let's see. Brown, Lavender"   
  
"Here!"  
  
"Ah yes, I've heard a lot about you, you're Ron's girlfriend, aren't you?" Lavender nodded, "Good, that'll help me remind your name! Now. Bullstrode, Millicent"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Great! And now we have. Crabbe, Vincent."  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Good, now. Finnigan Seamus!"  
  
"That's me!"  
  
"Nice to meet you!.Goyle, Gregory?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Great. Now, Granger, Hermione. Hmmm, I might have a problem remembering you."  
  
Hermione grinned.  
  
"OK, next is Longbottom, Neville"  
  
Neville raised his hand.  
  
"Hmm. Malfoy Draco"  
  
"That would be me," Draco drawled and then smirked superiorly, avting as if nothing had happened that morning.  
  
"Nice for you, .. Parkinson, Pansy?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Hey, finally I get to meet you, I heard a lot about you this summer."  
  
Pansy smiled.  
  
"Potter Harry?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"We've already met this morning. Thomas, Dean?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Yes, you're Seamus best friend, aren't you?"  
  
Dean nodded and Alex smiled.  
  
"It's always good to have a cousin who keeps you informed, I feel like I already know all of you. some more than the others of course. Weasley, Ronald?"  
  
"Yep!"  
  
"Another one whose name I mustn't learn! Great, less work for me. Now, last but not least. Zabini, Blaise?"  
  
"Here!"  
  
"Fine! I must say I'm really happy so many chose advanced DADA even after that lousy experience you had in fifth year with that. insert insult you find suitable here as I'm a teacher and not allowed to insult others in front of you. Umbridge. I will do what is in my power so you wont regret it. Well, we are to start with learning the Patronus which, as far as I know quite a lot of you already master," she said blinking at the DA members. "To practice this we can't use a Dementor. for obvious reasons. I must confess though, I haven't even tried going to one of them and ask 'Excuse me? Would you mind leaving Voldemort for some days and playing target for some seventh years learning the Patronus Charm?' I don't know, I think he wouldn't be too happy about it. But, luckily, not only the Dementors can be beaten by a Patronus. Can somebody tell me about another creature ?. Yes Draco?"  
  
"The Letifold!"  
  
"Very good! Ten points for Slytherin. Indeed, it is a Letifold we'll be practising with, I've already ordered one but I'm afraid it won't be here before tomorrows class, so I thought we'll start with another theme which is only theoretical and quickly explained. This means also no homework!"  
  
The class started to cheer and clap until Alex told them to lower their voices if they wanted to hear some really creepy stories. Intrigued, the students fell silent. "Very nice, now. Our topic is. Necromancy! Who can tell me what that is?" Lavender raised her hand: "It is a form of predicting the future by. invoking the dead and asking them." she shuddered.  
  
"Right Lavender, that's ten points for Gryffnidor. Necromancy is a very advanced form of dark magic, not many wizards are able to perform it. For the ritual you need to draw a stave of blood. it can be that of an animal. on the floor. On its corners you need to put black candles and then you have to speak the incantation. Necromancy is, of course forbidden because it can go horribly wrong. The only wizard known who practices it nowadays is Voldemort, he uses it in order to find out if his plans are bound to be successful. Though, if you ask me, the dead seemed to have fun sending him into failure!" she said grinning at Harry.  
  
"Well, now to the creepy stories about Necromancy gone wrong. There is never a guarantee that it's the ghost you are calling who actually comes, it can be somebody completely different and then you might have opened the gates to this world for, for example a Poltergeist. Peeves himself is a. ehm dead proof of it. He came into this castle when a seventh year tried to find out if he would pass the NEWTs."  
  
The class laughed.  
  
"Yes, that one was funny, but not every ghost turns out to be harmless, there were many cases in which dead mass murderers whose thirst for blood had not died with them crossed over to this world to continue with their genocides. The ministry has always a lot of trouble then because it isn't really easy to trap a ghost and send him back. I'll tell you some of the scariest examples now. In 1756 .."  
  
She spent the rest of the lesson telling them the creepiest stories in such a exciting way that she had the all hanging at her lips, seldom had a teacher had so much attention from his students.  
  
When the bell was about to ring she smiled at them: "I already told you, you have no homework, but if you want to get some extra points for your house you can make up a story about Necromancy gone wrong and hand it to me next lesson. Only writing it will bring your house 20 points, the best gets another 10. You're dismissed!"  
  
Everybody grabbed their thing and walked out talking excitedly among themselves, some already thinking about what to write for the idea of creative writing instead of summaries and essays about the different themes in their subjects attracted them. Remembering a comment Mc Gonagall had made in their third year when him and Harry had left the table first and Trelawney said the first one to rise would die because there had been thirteen people sitting at the table he Ron said: "I'm going to write something about a mad axe-murderer's ghost on the loose in Hogwarts, this will be better than inventing tragedies for the old bat. What do you think, Harry, Hermione.. Hermione?"  
  
But Hermione wasn't there, she had stayed behind and was talking to her cousin. Just when they wanted to walk back and join them, Hermione bid Alex goodbye and walked over to her friends, a huge smile in her face.  
  
"What's up?" Pansy asked.  
  
"Yeah, you look as if Gryffindor won the Quidditsch Cup!" Seamus agreed. Hermione grinned even wider and said: "Oh, it's nothing, Alex just told me that Zack will be staying here over the winter holidays to visit her and his uncle.. I'm good friends with him and I just imagined. how will Snape act towards me in front of him, he's quite fond of his nephew and wouldn't want to upset him, wouldn't he?"  
  
Her fellow Gryffindors also grinned evilly now, looking forward to their meeting with the young man.  
  
After a long first day which included endless two periods of Potions, Transfiguration and for Hermione and Pansy, Arithmancy and for the others Divination, and after a satisfying dinner Hermione finally returned to her common room hoping she'd be there before Malfoy so she could retreat to her room without having to argue with him. Soon she arrived at the portrait hole, greeted Arianne, gave her the password end entered, peering cautiously into the common room, hoping against hope that Malfoy wouldn't be there. But of course, there was no such luck.  
  
"Granger, why are you spying on me?"  
  
"I'm not spying on you Malfoy, you're not as interesting as you think, in fact, you're not interesting at all."  
  
"Excuse me, many girls share the opinion that I'm interesting enough to ask me for my autograph!"  
  
"Really? Well, then these girls obviously share a brain, too! If you excuse me now, I'm going to bed!"  
  
"I'm not done with you Mudblood!"  
  
"Like I care, ferret face!"  
  
With that Hermione walked into her room, closing the door behind her pointedly, for the second night in a row.  
  
The next few weeks practically flew by and Alex grew to be the most popular teacher at school, she was like a fresh breeze and girls often came to her when they needed advise about boys and the guys came to her when their girlfriends were upset with them and they didn't know why ("Justin Finch- Flatley! You don't tell a girl that her t-shirt would suit her best friend better! Especially if she obviously wanted to impress you with it!" "But I thought it's always the best to tell the truth!" "We women are complicated!"). On a rainy day in the first week of October. Hermione stepped into the Gryffindor common room with a piece of parchment in her hands.  
  
"Attention please! Here is the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend, it's this one. and of our first Quidditsch match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, a week before Haloween."  
  
A/N: Pansy and Mione are unable to talk, they are still laughing too hard about the whole Voldi incident and making parodies *shakes head*. Anyway, I need your help with the following:  
  
INQUIRY: There will be quite a number of Slytherins who'll join the light side beside Pansy and Draco. I'm already sure about one of them but my question to you is, what should I do with Crabbe and Goyle? Options: a) both turn to the dark side b) both turn to the light side c) Goyle turns to the light side and Crabbe to the dark d) Crabbe turns to the light side and Goyle to the dark  
  
I've got explanations for all of them, so tell me your choice in your review (noooo, this is no hint, why do you always think so badly of me?), I'll make it dependent of that who else will be on the light side.  
  
Now to the answers to your reviews:  
  
PRONGSLOVER: Thanks for your review! I really have fun writing the story and its always gratifying to know that somebody actually likes it. You really lived in Germany? That's cool!  
  
Feltonlover88: It's Snape's sister who is Zack's mother, that's why his surname is Seimoure (and also the reason for him not having greasy hair and bad teeth, a woman wouldn't allow such a thing).  
  
Vallierie: I know that one shouldn't make comments in the story, but sometimes it's hard for me not to, I'm trying though. I can't remember now, did I make any in this chapter? And the thing with Pansy being Hermione's best friend. well, if Draco can change and become her boyfriend, Pansy can change, too. At least that's what I think!  
  
ProwlingKitKat: I'm really sorry if I sounded discriminating, it wasn't my intention! In fact, one of my two best friends, Lucius Sikilmituile, is a Slytherin, too (I'm a Ravenclaw). Don't worry, there'll be quite some Slytherins joining the light side as you can also see from my inquiry above the answers to the reviews. I'm also sorry about forgetting Neville, I won't do it in the future! Perhaps I'll pair him with Luna.. Which reminds me that I still have to introduce her to this fic.  
  
Queen Cari: I know, it took me really long to update this, but I was pretty occupied before Christmas and afterwards I was gone on holidays. I hope you can undestand it. Also I will try to update Albus' Angels soon, I'll start on the new chapter asap.  
  
JuNiSGiRl: I guess every D/Hr fic starts the same cause it's a funny beginning, anyway, except for tha first chapter I tried to make my fic different, if you hadn't only read the first chapter you'd know it (why am I writing this if you are not gonna read it anyway????)  
  
G.M.: Well, here is the new chapter, I'm glad that you like Pansy being good that much, I really didn't know how everybody would react to this. I'm looking forward to your next review.  
  
Britany Anmylica Cain: Thanks a lot for all your advise, the author's note thing I already knew, but it's hard for me not to give my comments immediately. I'm trying to improve though. As for the lenght, this chapter is the longest up to now, just for you, I'll also try to make them longer in the future, like those of my other fic. By the way, the next chapter will feature the Quidditsch match and a first civil convesation between Draco and Hermione. Thanks again and if you have more tipps for me just review!!!! ^_^  
  
Dracosgurl_chrissy: OK, this update took me very long with all the chrismas shopping, friends meeting and the holiday trip I couldn't start until we came back from south Spain on the 5th at late afternoon. The next day I found over 35 author's alerts on my inbox, so I couldn't really get started until the seventh. Therefore I made the chapter longer (also on request of the reviewer above). I'm glad you found some stories you liked on my favourites list. Just keep your reviews coming, I'm always happy when I see them!!! ^_^  
  
Supreme Neo Countess: Thanks for your review, I'm glad you like the story.  
  
Chilly winter greetings from Barcelona,  
  
Winterbreath ^_^ 


	8. Lions don't always roar, Snakes don't al...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my Ocs and the plot!

A/N:

Me: "Man! It took me a long time to write this one!"

Pansy: "Writer's blocks can be evil things!"

Me: "And then I had some technological problems.... At least now I have my own laptop with internet connection so I don't have to send the chapters for submitting to my friend anmore..."

Mione: "At least the chapter is really long!"

Me: "Yeah! Longest chapter up to now, and probably for some time! So much happens in here!"

Pansy: "No telling though, you guys have got to read it yourselves."

Mione: "We won't hold you up anymore, you've waited enough, just read!"

This chapter is dedicated to **Lusiki **who has been supporting me from the start, thanks for caring and for being one of the best friends in the world!

_**Chapter 8: Lions don't always roar, Snakes don't always bite**_

The long awaited Hogsmeade weekend had finally begun. It was Saturday morning and everybody was sitting in the Great Hall, enjoying their breakfast. Like every other day a swishing could be suddenly heard above their heads and dozens of owls flew into the room, carrying letters, packages or simply the Daily Prophet. When an owl had deposited Hermione's copy in front of her she immediately put her goblet down and opened it in the section for creative writing like she had been doing for the last four weeks, since that day in DADA....

Flashback....

The third day of school, Alex entered the classroom with a huge grin on her face, a package of papers tucked neatly under her left arm, she practically bounced down the stairs.

"I must say, I was already surprised that almost all of you handed a story in yesterday.... But I wasn't prepared for such a good artistic work from all of you! They were all really good.... Still, I must confess, the decision wasn't difficult...or rather, not too difficult. There were two stories which were really outstanding, but the ten points extra go to.... Pansy Parkinson! Great job Pansy!" she said, beaming at the young girl.

"Thanks!" she answered smiling, but, at the same time, blushing a little.

"Say Pansy, did you consider taking a career which involves writing, you could be a good reporter, you should also try to write a book though. If you do, you can be sure I'd be one of the first to read it."

"Do you really think I could become a writer?" Pansy asked, hope and happiness clearly audible in her voice. Alex nodded. Hermione was happy for her best friend, she had known for a long time of Pansy's passion for writing and had told her herself she would make a good writer. But somehow it is better to hear that from a teacher instead of your best friend.

"Another thing." Alex continued, "The other story I mentioned was written by Ron. The only bad thing it had was, that it was slightly out of the task. You wrote more of a horror comedy. A pretty good one, mind you, I was laughing so hard, I almost suffocated! You should also think of a writing career, such combinations between humour and horror are fun to read, especially for teenagers. I also have a proposition for the two of you, if you agree, I'd like to send both your stories to the Daily Prophet's section for creative writing with an explanation on how they came to be, perhaps they'll print them."

Ron and Pansy were excited and immediately agreed. Both went to send owls to their mothers as soon as they had some time. Mrs. Weasley had rapidly written back to congratulate her son, telling him how proud she was. She also commented on what a wonderful person Hermione's cousin seemed to be and that she would love to invite her for dinner sometime during the holidays. When Ron had told his teacher about it she laughed and said she would love to come, for after Hermione's stories she was dying to get to know the whole family. Pansy's mother was also very proud of her daughter, especially since she had been a reporter for the Daily Prophet herself before her marriage and had just been offered a job there again.

Two days later Alex had announced during class that she had received a letter from the Daily Prophet telling her that the stories had been accepted and would be printed sometime soon. Since then, Hermione looked every morning for them in her example.

End flashback

"Hey! It's here!" she shouted suddenly, placing the open newspaper in front of her red headed friend.

Grinning he took the paper from her and the whole group leaned over to him in order to have a closer look. Hermione meanwhile glanced to the Slytherin table and saw Pansy engrossed in hers. She seemed to notice her best friends eyes on her however, for she looked up and grinned at her. Hermione grinned back and gave her a thumbs up which the blonde returned before going back to her reading.

Soon afterwards the castle was swarming with activity, almost every student from third year on was busy preparing himself for the trip to the only entirely magical village in Great Britain. Only those who had been there very often and had to prepare themselves for upcoming exams stayed behind. These were mainly seventh years, but surprisingly not Hermione Granger, although she did have an exam the following week. Instead of staying behind together with Ron and Harry (Yes, Ron and Harry) and study (yes, study!) she and Pansy decided to walk together to Hogsmeade and visit Pansy's mother who would be awaiting them with her famous chocolate cake and some tee. Ginny and Luna, who both had no tests to prepare for, were invited to tag along with them.

"Really Hermione! You don't cease to surprise me this year. First you publicly embarrass Malfoy _repeatedly_ and then you skip an opportunity to study in order to have some fun!" Ginny said ginning.

"Well, first, I already know the stuff by heart and second I want to see Joyce again. I wonder what she will say about today's Daily Prophet!"

Joyce Everett was Pansy's mother, after escaping from her husband she had changed her name back into her maiden name and they had also already changed Pansy's surname into Everett, only a week ago as the young girl didn't want to carry "that bastard's cursed name" as she had expressed herself in front of the members of the Law Enforcement Squad.

Laughing and chatting the four friends walked out of the castle and made their way into Hogsmeade, not noticing the many guy's glances following them, they were, after all, four of the most sought after girls in the whole school. Many of them had already tried to get a date with either Luna, Pansy or Hermione and the only reason they didn't ask Ginny was because she was Harry's girlfriend. The girls however had politely refused every date, excusing themselves with the amount of study they had to do. In reality however Luna and Pansy both already had crushes who hadn't asked them out and Hermione was just out of a relationship which had left her pretty down. Her ex, Jeremy Hilton, a Ravenclaw, had betrayed her with Cho Chang. Unluckily for him, Hermione had found out and broken up with him and his relationship with Cho hadn't lasted too long either for she had found out her problem to keep a relationship more than a month was due to the fact that guys weren't really her thing.... Now Jeremy was the fool of the school, much to Hermione's and her friend's amusement. Still she preferred not to go out with anyone until she got a good feeling about it.

Soon they had arrived at their destination and were knocking on the door of Pansy's new home. Not even five seconds later the door was swung open and a woman was embracing them tightly.

"Welcome my dears! I've been waiting for you impatiently! Come in, come in, the cake is waiting to be eaten!" she said without even catching a breath. Then she looked at Ginny and Luna. "You two must be Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, I'm so happy to finally meet you, Pansy talks so much about all of you...but where's the rest?"

"Learning for a Potions exam, Pansy and I already studied everything thoroughly and these two are a year below us and have no major exams next week." Hermione answered, grinning at the older woman's enthusiasm. Last time she had seen her, though friendly, Joyce Everett still was rather depressed as the memories of her marriage were still too fresh. The holidays and spending some time alone with her daughter however had transformed her completely and now she was radiant and somehow happy go lucky.

"Oh Pansy! Now that I think of it, congratulations on your story. I saw it printed today, it is really good, I'm so proud of you!" Joyce exclaimed suddenly, embracing her daughter tightly.

"Mum... can't.... breath!" Pansy said with difficulty, still smiling at her mother's outbreak though.

"Sorry honey, I was just so happy for you! And your friend Ron's story...it was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing."

"Yes, it's really funny," Pansy agreed.

Ginny nodded, "I had no idea my brother was capable of such a thing. I'm really impressed!"

Ms. Everett laughed, "Well, now that that's clear, the cake and some hot chocolate is waiting for us, I thought that might be better than tea."

The five women went into the dining room and sat down around the beautifully decorated table, the four younger ones immediately attacking the cake.

"I'm glad you like it so much!" Pansy's mother said, her eyes blinking with joy.

They sat there for about two hours, talking animatedly about everything and nothing until it was time for Joyce to go back to the article she was currently writing.

"I'm sorry we can't spend more time together, but I have to finish this until tomorrow, I hope you are not upset with me."

"Not at all mum, don't worry!"

"Yes, we need to do some shopping anyway." Hermione chimed in.

"We promise to come next time we're here though." Luna said.

"Do that, and bring the others with you."

"All right, but I fear that if my brother is to come you'll have to make at least three cakes." Ginny warned their older friend.

After many hugs and goodbyes, the girls were on the road again. They decided to go to Gladrags first, they wanted to already buy their robes for the Christmas Ball, that way they wouldn't have the stress of doing so when every other girl attending was there. The three skimmed through each and every dress robe hanging in the store with occasional comments of "Look what a beautiful colour!", "Why should anyone wear this _on their own will_?!?", "Does this match with my hair?" or "What do you think Harry will say to this one?"

The latter was said by Ginny when she pulled out simple, yet elegant forest green, velvety robe which was cut in a way that would show her curves nicely without being to tight to breath in and had the neckline cut strategically so it would show skin without being slutty. Another plus was that the colour contrasted beautifully with Ginny's hair and would match with Harry's eyes.

"Seems good, try it on!" Luna encouraged her.

When Ginny stepped out of the dressing cabin a little later the girls gasped in amazement.

"That good?" the redhead asked, smiling shyly.

Hermione nodded, "That's the one! Harry will be knocked out when he sees you in that."

"Yep!" Pansy agreed, "All the girls will want to be you and, even more important, all the guys will want to be him when you two enter the Great Hall on December the 21st."

"Then I'll be keeping it." Ginny said grinning before retreating again into her cabin in order to change back into her normal clothes.

The next to find a dress was Hermione. Her silk robe was of a wonderful burgundy colour which brought out the brown of her hair and eyes, making both seem to shine. The sleeves were long, tight fitting from shoulders to elbows, then widening, flowing loosely around her arms. The half low neck had a square cut with golden embroidery along it, a decent eye catcher. The robe was tight fitting till under the breasts, then it flowed freely down her body, but still tight enough to show her nice figure.

Luna found satin robes which were royal blue on top, tight fitting till her waist and then turned night blue. The two parts were separated by a kind of thin, silver coloured belt. The tight fitting, long sleeves were of the same colour as the upper part of the dress, but made of a see through material. Lucky her, she immediately found matching shoes. A pair of beautiful silver sandals which were held by delicate straps, thin enough to look classy and broad enough not to cut into her feet.

Pansy finally settled for a pastel pink, velour dress robe which was pretty similar to Luna's. The difference was that hers was cut so that it had long sleeves but still was shoulder free. The belt was missing and the dress had only one colour but the skirt was wider and had three layers. The bottom layer was also of velour and of a dark pink colour, the middle layer was made of a see through material of a softer shape of pink and the top layer, also a soft see through material, was a light pastel pink of the same shade as the bodice.

When they were done with dresses they went for shoes as not everybody had had Luna's luck of finding them in the same store.

5 stores and 27 "trying ons"of shoes later the other three had found theirs. While Ginny and Hermione both had golden sandals (Hermione with high heels and Ginny without as she was quite tall anyway) and Pansy had got herself white ones, the three pairs pretty much in the same style as Luna's.

When they were done shopping they went to the Three Broomsticks were they already started to discuss how to do their hair and which make up to use ("You can never get started too early. Oh my god, I'm starting to sound like Lavender and Parvati! That's what six years of sharing a room do to you!"). Afterwards they bought some extra butterbeers to take for the guys and went to explore the other shops calmly.

When they finally headed back to the castle they were not only loaded with bags from Gladrads, Magical Feet, ShoeCharm, Apollo's and The Three Broomsticks, but also from Honeyduke's and Zonko's .

Meanwhile, Head Boy/Girl Common Room...

Draco Malfoy sat lazily on the couch reading a book. The title read "100 ways to frighten others by simply looking at them." In reality however it was only a cover for he was actually reading "Hogwarts: A History". Being seen with that, he felt, would do great harm to his Dumbledore-hating bad boy reputation and he didn't want that.

Meanwhile he wondered about Pansy Parkinson, how could a person change so much? In their first five years she had been a conceited bitch, harassing muggle borns, only preoccupied about her looks instead of her grades and clingy to him. Now she was best friends with mudblood Granger, spoke openly against Voldemort and didn't care what her housemates thought of her even though she had a pretty rough time whenever she went into the common room and was ignored during meals.

Even as it annoyed him, he had to confess that he admired her perseverance and her courage. He wasn't very fond of the dark lord himself, too afraid though about what others would say if he voiced his thoughts. Six years of attending school with Granger had shown him, that the theory of muggle borns being less worth than purebloods was utter crap. He could try as hard as he wanted, she would always be better than him in their exams, she had helped Potter defeat Voldemort countless times and she had friends which would do everything for her. He didn't know if his friends were with him because they really liked him, because he was a Malfoy and rich or worse, because they were afraid of his father. Sometimes he wondered what would really happen if he crossed to the light side, he still wasn't a Death Eater after all. Would they trust him? Would they think he was a spy for Voldemort? He remembered the difficulties Pansy had had at the beginning, only Granger had accepted her new self from the start, later convincing the others that she had really changed.

Potter and Weasley, he'd like to see their faces if he really decided to change sides. He knew for sure he wasn't the only one who doubted Voldemort's cause, he had seen Blaise Zabini's face whenever one of their housemates commented excitedly that they would soon be initiated in Voldemorts circle, he also had his doubts and his parents weren't Death Eaters themselves. That was a strong point of the Malfoys, they were observant, a fact which had helped him greatly in the past. He also knew Zabini had a crush on Pansy, which the boy himself would never admit, the reason probably being she had refused many dates with guys who didn't have the stamp "Future Death Eater" printed on them. That's why it wouldn't be long, Draco guessed, till he declared himself supporter of the light side.

His thoughts were interrupted when the entrance to the common room opened and Hermione, Pansy, Luna and Ginny walked in.

"You can leave the robes in my bedroom, then you won't have to show them to everybody, you won't even have to say you already have them!" Hermione said to her friends, opening the door to her bedroom from which Crookshanks emerged, meowing in protest.

"Sorry sweetie, did I leave you alone too long? I brought you some cat goodies!"

When he heard that the tomb cat was all friendly again and rubbed his head enthusiastically against his owner's leg.

The girls laughed and entered Hermione's room, loaded with bags from many different stores as Draco noticed. When they came out again they carried significantly less.

"Did you buy all of Hogsmeade?" Draco asked smirking.

"Oh, hello Malfoy! No we only did some major shopping, girl's speciality." Pansy said. Since she had turned her back on Voldemort she had started to call her housemates by the surname for she felt they weren't really her friends, plus, they also called her by her surname so there was no need to pretend.

"Let's go to the Gryffindor common room and bring the sweets and the stuff from Zonko's to the guys, they'll be waiting for it." Ginny said, trying to avoid the confrontation between Hermione and Draco which would undoubtedly start if they stayed much longer.

As soon as they had vanished through the portrait hole leading to the Gryffindor common room he continued reading, forgetting about his earlier inner musings.

For everybody who was interested, Alex had started a DADA club which would deepen the things covered in class and teach things which weren't on a normal schedule. Unofficially it was a chance to prepare the students for the upcoming war and a kind of second DA as the original had been forbidden. The good thing was, now a teacher was in charge and no one could say they were breaking school rules anymore. Harry had been declared Alex' official assistant in tutoring the group which consisted mainly of the students who had been in the DA (except those who had already graduated) and a few new ones, like Pansy. Every Wednesday afternoon at five o'clock the group met outside the Room of Requirement.

The Wednesday before the Quidditch match the club got a new member.

When Alex arrived in front of the Room of Requirement one Blaise Zabini was walking beside her and she was grinning sheepishly at the waiting crowd.

"Hello everybody! I hope you don't mind Blaise joining in on the fun?"

"I sure as hell don't...." Pansy thought, Blaise was, after all, her secret crush about whom only Mione, Luna and Ginny knew.

"Of course not!" her best friend said, knowing exactly what Pansy was thinking, "The more people, the better. So, welcome in our group Blaise!"

The others also welcomed him warmly for everybody knew that if you joined the club you were officially against Voldemort, also, as no secrets were discussed there, it wouldn't help coming in as a spy.

Alex, having noticed Pansy's and Blaise's interest in each other put them together for the training of the new curses and protection charms, this time they would learn how to create a magic shield which was strong enough to protect them from more powerful hexes (of course there still wasn't any protection form Avada Kedavra).

"Well, that's it for today. You did great! I think we have this covered, next week we'll train how to fight the Imperius curse, Harry is the only one who can do this without much difficulty and being able to is very important. That's why I got a special allowance from the Ministry to use it so we can practice. OK, now go and have fun, play pranks, do whatever you want, just give your brains a rest from all the information they were fed today in class. That is of course if you already did your homework.... That reminds me I have some first year exams left to grade, see you tomorrow everybody!"

While Ginny and Luna walked off together in order to do their homework, Pansy and Hermione went to the latter's common room in order to revise their Potions essay which was due the next day.

"I'm so happy Blaise joined us!" Pansy exclaimed as they walked through the portrait after telling Arianne about their class (she had been DADA teacher in her lifetime, so she was interested).

"Yeah, who knows, perhaps now he'll ask you out! You just keep smiling at him like you did today and he'll be claimed first human street light of history, I've never seen anybody blush so badly, not even Ginny when she started with her crush on Harry!"

"Really?" Pansy asked hopefully.

Hermione laughed and opened the door to her bedroom in front of which they had meanwhile arrived, "Really!"

Neither of them had noticed Draco who was again siting on the couch, reading a book, this time it was "Quidditch through the ages" covering up for "Hamlet", he didn't want anyone to see him enjoying muggle literature, now did he?

"Now that was interesting!" he thought, "So Pansy likes Blaise, too... and he finally joined the light side. It will only be a matter of time until those two hook up. Well, I wish him luck! Who knows, if everything goes right for him I'll join the light side, too. There's no sense in supporting something you don't believe in, especially if it's shown to the world in a manner you detest like killing and torturing people.... It would also be worth alone for seeing the Griffindor's reactions if I turn out to be good!" he smirked at the thought, "Yeah, it's worth thinking it over..."

Word spread pretty quickly that Blaise had joined the light side, or that he was a traitor as some of the Slytherins saw it. He didn't mind very much though for now he sat beside Pany during meals and four or five other supporters of the light side, but that wasn't so important.

The rest of the week passed by pretty fast and soon it was Saturday morning, the Quidditch match would start at ten o'clock, it was 8.30 am when Harry and the rest of the house team came down for breakfast, Hermione was already there.

The weather was fabulous, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue and no wind blew, ideal conditions for a Quidditch match. At 9.15 the team left to discuss their strategy and Hermione went to her common room in order to read, at least today she would be sure to find it empty. While walking there she thought it was a shame that she had to wait for a Quidditch match in order to have peace in her own common room, she decided to ask Arianne what she thought about it.

The young woman debated the question for a moment and then said, "I think you should make a truce with Draco, you have to live closely together and if you are constantly arguing it would spoil your last year here big time! And that would be a real shame!"

"I don't know, what if he doesn't accept the truce?"

"I don't think he won't, he may appear to be cold but I think there's more to him than he shows. He somewhat reminds me of.... Never mind, that's not so important!"

Hermione was going to ask whom Draco reminded her of when she saw the sad expression in her eyes, the same they had held when she first saw her, however Ariannne covered it up quickly and, smiling, she added, "And if I'm wrong and he does refuse, he's not worth of you getting a headache over this whole situation, just ignore him. That might piss him off at first and he'll try desperately to annoy you but after some time he'll eventually let it be and you'll have the piece you desire."

"Thanks Ari, I'll try the truce, just like you I have a feeling deep inside me that Malfoy might be jerk, but not really evil at least not on Death Eater level!"

Instead of going into her common room to read like she had intended to do, she stayed talking with Ariannne until 9.45 and then left for the Quidditch pitch with Arianne shouting after her to give her old house team her support from her (she'd been a Gryffindor, too as she had told Hermione during their conversation).

The Quidditch team had gone through quite some changes since Harry's first year. Wood had graduated when Harry was in third year, during their fourth year there had been no Quidditch because of the Triwizard Tournament and in fifth year Angelina had become their Captain and Harry, Fred and George had got a life ban from Quidditch because of... a certain incident. Of course the ban had been lifted as soon as Fudge heard about Umbridge's plot to silence Harry, he had been "shocked". In their sixth year Harry had been made Quidditch captain and visibly enjoyed his job. The first thing to do had been forming a new team, after all their three Chasers along with the two Beaters had graduated or partly dramatically left school in a way which would never be forgotten among Hogwarts students. The new team consisted of Ginny, Dennis Creevey and a fourth year student called Caroline Smith as Chasers and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas as Beaters. Colin Creevey had taken over the job of commenting on the matches since Lee Jordan had also graduated.

Now the team came walking into the field to meet their adversaries, Hermione already crossing her fingers for them.

"Captains, please shake hands!" McGonagall said.

The boys complied, even though they made disgusted faces and the actual shaking lasted only about two seconds, quite an accomplishment thinking about their history together!

"OK now, teams. Mount your brooms!" she said and released the Snitch, the Bludgers and the Quaffle.

"And off they go!" Colin shouted excitedly "Weasley immediately takes possession of the Quaffle and starts towards the goal hoops... Ouch, that was close, good job on the side of Thomas, that Bludger would have hit her head!.... There, she throws the Quaffle aaaaaaaand..... YES that's ten points for Gryffindor! Now the Quaffle is in possession of Slytherin, Stevenson flies over to the Gryffindor side, Finnigan hits the Bludger... Stevenson can dodge it, he passes the Quaffle to Greene... he tosses it.... Weasley can stop it! I swear that guy's a wall. Wood would have been proud of him! Slytherin have the Quaffle again, there, Carter is hit by the Bludger and drops it, good job Finnigan! .... I'm not being subjective professor, I'm just stating the facts... Smith has the Quaffle, she passes it to Weasley who passes it back, they are throwing it to each other so rapidly I can barely see it...wait a minute! Smith tosses and YESSSSSS another ten points for Gryffindor, they're leading twenty to zero!!!!"

Meanwhile Harry and Draco were circling over the Quidditch pitch, listening to Colin's comments and at the same time looking out for the Snitch.

"Great!" Draco thought gloomily, "Ten minutes into the game and Gryffindor is already in the lead! Why am I punished with such idiots as team members?"

"_Ahem,"_ a little voice in the back of his head said, _"You elected them for the team, you are the captain, what does that say about your intelligence?"_

"Oh, shut up! Will you?"

"_Try to make me! I'm you, remember?"_

"Man! I didn't know I could be so.... Annoying!"

"_Ask Potter and his friends, they will be able to tell you just how annoying you are!"_

"Haha! Very funny!"

"_Instead of arguing with me... or rather with yourself, you should pay more attention to the match and finding the Snitch!"_

"Hey, you started this in the first place!"

"_Maybe, but I already said that I am you, so you started it, ha!"_

"OK, no more inner arguments for me, that's just too weird!" the blonde decided. When he directed his attention back to the match he found that meanwhile the score was 60:10 for Gryffindor. He sighed, "Well, at least we made one goal."

The game was fast and exciting. Slytherin managed to score two more goals, both times Ron had been too occupied saving his head from a Bludger to prevent it, no surprise there, Slytherin not playing dirty would have been a shocker. Even so, Gryffindor had scored much more than Slytherin and were in the lead, 110: 30

Suddenly Draco caught movement from the corner of his eye, he turned his head to see Harry diving full speed towards the ground. Was this the real thing or just a feint? Deciding to play it safe the Slytherin captain followed, putting all his energy on catching up with his raven haired opponent while searching frantically for the glimmer of gold which would tell them were the Snitch was. Just when he was thinking that it might not be there at all Harry pulled up again, just a few inches above the ground. Draco had just time to register that there was no Snitch in his hand whatsoever before forcefully pulling himself up and almost not managing it. Much to his displeasure he had to admit to himself that "Potter" had been nearer to the ground when he had pulled his broom up and hadn't even had half as much trouble with doing so. (A/N: No offence here, Draco is one of my favourite characters, more than Harry, but let's face the truth, the latter is a way better flyer).

Hermione had been sitting in the crowd, awaiting with fear the moment Harry would do the Wronski Feint. He had been practising it all of last year and had decided that this game was the ideal occasion to pull it off in an actual game, one of the benefits would be pissing Malfoy off. Hermione had seen him do the trick perfectly many times, but she was afraid every time again and that had only been in training sessions, this was a real match, who knew what could happen! When she saw him dive for the non existent Snitch she held her breath and her heartbeat quickened, in all the excitement she still managed to notice that his trick had worked, Malfoy was right behind him. The two captains neared the ground at top speed, they came nearer, nearer, nearer... just when Hermione thought that her friend would collide with the ground and his brains and intestines would decorate the Quidditch field (she had been watching a lot of horror movies over the summer) he pulled his broom up with an astounding ease which made her wonder if he had an army of guardian angels flying with him. She let out the breath she had been holding and observed how Malfoy pulled his broom up at a higher distance from the ground and with more difficulty than Harry. He almost didn't make it and Hermione was surprised that, when he threatened to lose control she was preoccupied.

"Well," she thought, "I guess that's due to my earlier conversation with Arianne, after all, I really don't think he is truly evil. Let's see how this truce thing works out!"

She hadn't even completely finished her thought when Harry dived again, Mione noticed the determination on his face and knew, this time it was for real. Following his gaze she also spotted the little golden ball about two meters above the ground, right from the Gryffindor goal hoops. Malfoy was a few inches behind him, but he didn't make it on time. When Harry's fingers closed over the Snitch a big grin appeared on his face and he pulled up, the fluttery orb clutched tightly in his hand. Soon he found himself engulfed by six red blurs in an equally tight hug. When they pulled away he motioned Ginny near and kissed her passionately, well as passionately as possible with both of them on different brooms and hovering about thirty feet above the ground... The whole Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw student body cheered and whistled, along with some of the "traitors" (Blaise, Pansy...)

The young Head Girl immediately ran down to the Quidditch pitch in order to congratulate her friends, passing a very gloomy looking Slytherin Quidditch team on her way there.

"Guys that was awesome!" she exclaimed when she arrived at their side. After she had hugged each of her friends tightly they went to the Gryffindor common room in order to party like there was no tomorrow as Ron put it.

About an hour before dinner Hermione entered the Head common room, still grinning from the happy mood at the party she had just left.

"Hey Malfoy!" she cheerfully greeted the boy who was sitting by the fire and, judging from the look on his face, in just the opposite mood she was in.

He looked at her darkly and said with a voice matching his gaze, "Just get it over and done Granger!"

A puzzled look appeared on Hermione's pretty face, "What are you on about Malfoy?" she asked quizzically.

"You know very well what I'm talking about, all those funny comments you had in mind about how I'm a lousy Quidditch player, all the taunting about the match today!"

"So he thought I was going to make fun of him.... Well, he obviously doesn't know me at all, I don't taunt a person who is so visibly down," she thought. Out loud she said, "Well Malfoy, you got that pretty wrong, I'm not here to make fun of you. And you aren't a lousy Quidditch player!"

When she noticed the surprised look on his face she shrugged, "What? It's true! You are probably the second best flyer in this school, Harry's just a natural born talent, at this level he's probably even better than Victor... I mean Krum."

"You might be right," the blonde answered slowly, still not getting the fact that she wasn't making fun of him and had even sort of complimented him, "But I still don't get why you aren't making fun of me, you are a Gryffindor after all!"

"That's true, but Quidditch isn't so important for me, I'm happy for my friends because it means a lot to them, but that's all. Besides, I'm sick of all this arguing, at the beginning it was fun, but it's getting tiring, especially since we're sharing the same living space. That's why I wanted to propose a truce. We can still call each other by the surname, but let's just leave insults, hexes and taunts aside. After all we are supposed to be an example for the younger students. So, what do you say?"

Draco meditated her words. Hadn't he been thinking about joining the light side anyway? This truce could be a first step to do so. Being on normal speaking terms with Granger didn't seem to bad either, she was smart and would be a good partner for intellectual conversation, at the moment his only speaking partners were Crabbe and Goyle and the only themes they knew were food, meals, food, lunch... you get the picture. Finally he nodded.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea, I'm tired of all this arguments myself. Still, I'm surprised that you proposed it, I always thought Gryffindors would never even dream about being polite to Slytherins!"

"Well," Hermione said grinning, "Lions don't always roar you know? But I thought a Slytherin would never agree on a truce with a Gryffindor."

He grinned back at her, it felt weird but in a good way, "Snakes don't always bite either Granger. Truce?" he said holding out his hand.

"Truce!" she agreed shaking it.

"Yahooooooooo!" came Arianne's voice from outside the common room. Hermione laughed.

"What's up with Arianne?" Draco asked her confused.

"Well, I talked to her about all this truce thing before the match, it was her idea actually, I was just wondering about the difficulty of us sharing this common room and asked her for her opinion. I must say her idea was great."

The blonde nodded, "For once I agree with you."

"If you excuse me now, I have to get ready for dinner!" Hermione said walking to her room, "See you later Malfoy!"

"Later Granger."

When she closed the door behind her, closed, not slammed like she usually did after their conversations, Malfoy leaned back in the couch and continued staring at the fire, his mood was considerably better though.

Me: "That was it! Did you like it?"

Mione indignantly: "I still can't believe you made me compliment Malfoy!"

Draco grinning smugly: "Come on Granger, just confess that you want me!"

Pansy whacks Draco over the head

Me: "Malfoy! Where did _you_ come from?"

Draco dryly: "Disneyland."

Mione sarcastically: "Ha, ha, Malfoy, I'm laughing my head off!"

Draco glares at Hermione: "Shut up Mudbl..." shuts up and ducks under table when pierced by fierce glare of the three girls

Me: "You should be nicer to Mione Draco, after all she'll be your girlfriend in this fic!"

Draco horrified: "What? Are you nuts you crazy muggle woman? You can't do that!"

Me rising eyebrows: "No? And why if I may ask?"

Draco arrogantly: "Cause I'm the great Draco Malfoy and my blood is of the purest in the wizarding world. You are just a muggle."

Me grinning at the sight of Pansy and Mione mimicking Draco behind his back: "Well, you're right, but I'm also the author grins evilly and that means I can make you do what I want! Even turn gay and snog Harry or Ron or.... frighteningly evil grin Snape! So you better be nice to Mione!"

Draco nervous: "Hehe, Mione, did I ever tell just how much I like and respect you?"

Mione amused: "No, never! Tell me!"

Draco sighs in defeat and begins some speech

Me: "Well that was all for this time! We'll leave now so Draco can tell Hermione what he has to tell her!"

Pansy: "See you next time!"

Mione diverting her attention from Draco: "And don't forget the inquiry about Crabbe and Goyle, Winterbreath here got only one answer."

Draco confused: "Crabbe and Goyle? What's with them?"

Me sheepishly: "I want to know just how much hotter than you the readers think the two are!"

Draco shocked: "What? looking at Hermione and Pansy: "Really?"

Mione laughing: "Of course not you twit, just read the final authors note of last chapter and you'll find out what it is about."

Me: "And now, goodbye for real!"

Mione, Pansy, Draco: "Goodbye!"

Readers muttering: "Thank god!"

Answers o your reviews:

**Lark227: **Thanks for your review! I'm glad you like the story, hope you find this chapter good, too!

**Cassie and Cutie:** Well, that's my sense of humour and not everybody has the same, if you don't like my story, read another!

**Phi-cong: **I hope you like the story so far and that this chapter reached you, I'll send it to you by mail like the ones before.

**Dracosgurl-chrissy:** Thanks for answering to my Crabbe and Goyle question. Don't worry, if I ever stop writing (which I don't intend to do) I'll post an author's note saying so! Sorry for the long wait anyway!

**Lady Jupiter-Thunder:** hands you a silver Tibbelupp with green stripes My readers get what they want (as far as possible). I hope you like the new chapter as much as the last one!

**KeWIGaL9tH: **Well this isn't exactly soon... but I updated! I'm glad you love the fic!

**Lymaris:** Thanks for your review! Good to hear that you find it funny. I must be doing something right then! winks

**Lusiki:** My friend my sister in the soul... Love you very much, thanks for the help with all the chapters and thanks for your reviews, couldn't have done it without you!


	9. HOW COULD YOU ? or HALLOWEEN

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my Ocs, you know the deal...

AN/

Me: "So here I go again with a new chapter!"

Pansy and Mione waving pompons in the background: "Wahooooo!"

Draco smirking: "And that so soon, do you want to punish us and the readers?"

Me smirking, too: "Do you want me to make you develop a fetish for wearing pink tutus in this fic?"

Draco sweating: "I meant of course if you wanted to punish us by making us wait any longer, hehehe..."

Mione rolling eyes: "That was sooo smooth Malfoy!"

Draco glares at Mione

Pansy giggles

Me grinning: "Well then, if you so much want it, let's go on with the story. By the way, this chapter is dedicated to

And the chapter is dedicated to: **Lusiki, Reb, hottennissport88 and Lynx Irisa Black**

_**Chapter 9: HOW COULD YOU?!? or HALLOWEEN**_

Last chapter....

"**If you excuse me now, I have to get ready for dinner!" Hermione said walking to her room, "See you later Malfoy!"**

"Later Granger."

When she closed the door behind her, closed, not slammed like she usually did after their conversations, Malfoy leaned back in the couch and continued staring at the fire, his mood was considerably better though.

After taking a shower and changing into a pair of black hip hugger jeans and a red, tight fitting shirt and putting her hair up in a high ponytail, Hermione entered the common room once more, finding Draco where she had left him, on the couch. He was however not staring at the fire but reading a book.

"Hey!" she greeted him, "What are you reading?"

When the Head Boy turned around to face her he had to make a great effort not to let his jaw hit the floor, she looked ravishing. Quickly he gulped and drew a huge breath in, the he answered.

"Uhm, nothing special really..." then he thought, _"Great job Draco, really .Now she'll think you are retarded!"_

Fantastic, there was the little voice in his head again! The last thing he needed!

"Why should I care what she thinks of me?" he asked himself.

"_Because you want to be friends with her. Besides, when did you start not caring what an impression you cause on a hot girl?"_

"Granger isn't hot, she's a bookworm, a muggle born and a know it all!"

"_And that's why you almost couldn't breathe a second ago, huh?"_

"Ermh..."

"_That's what I thought, now I'll better leave you alone before she starts wondering about your faraway look, that would damage our rep, bad boys don't zone off into lala land!"_

"Malfoy?" Hermione tried to get his attention back, "Is everything OK?"

"Yes, I was just... thinking?" he answered, hey it was the truth, he had been thinking!

"Well then... you really don't want to tell me what you are reading?" she asked again, having noticed that his former answer had been a bit evasive. She wondered what a book it would be if he didn't want to tell her, something about Dark Arts perhaps?

Draco meanwhile considered what to do? Should he tell her? If he wanted to join the light side he better start trusting its members. Besides, if he didn't tell her she might think he was reading about Dark Arts and somehow he didn't want that. Taking a quick decision he said, "I'll tell you if you keep it to yourself!"

He sounded embarrassed, Hermione noticed, why would he be embarrassed and why should he want her to keep it to herself. Nevertheless she put her right hand over her heart and lifted the other.

"I solemnly swear that I'll keep it to myself," she said and then she crossed her heart, just to play it safe.

"OK,... um.... it's Shakespeare... Macbeth..." he reluctantly informed her showing her the book's original cover.

"Really!" Hermione squealed in delight, "You are reading muggle literature? That's great! You like it?"

Draco stared at her in disbelieve, he had thought that she would use the situation to at least partially get back on him for all those years of taunting her for her muggle heritage, instead she just asked him if he liked it. She was really a forgiving person!

"Yes, I like it so far. Lady Macbeth is very Slytherin for a muggle!"

Hermione grinned, "I should have figured you would say that!"

They talked about Macbeth for a few more minutes and then went _together_ down to the Great Hall for dinner. When they passed the doors together chatting amicably with each other and parted like civilised people without arguing, every jaw in the Great Hall dropped and hundreds of eye-pairs followed the two to their respective seats under an in Hogwarts never experienced silence.

Hermione and Draco both had to suppress grins when they sat down at the places their friends chose for them, or rather, Hermione sat down with her friends and Draco went to sit with the traitors, another step towards his new goal in changing sides.

"What was that about?" Harry asked his smart friend as soon as she sat down between and him and Ron.

"Oh, since we're going to live together for the rest of the year and we had some problems at the beginning, Malfoy and I decided to call a truce..." Hermione said casually while loading her plate with food.

"YOU DID WHAT??????" the two boys screamed shocked at her actions.

"We made a truce, you know, that thing were two people who don't get along agree to be polite to each other?"

"We know what a truce is Mione! But why with him?" Ron whined.

"Well, because, like I said, we have to share our living space. At first the verbal spats were funny... but after the hundredth it gets boring, believe me."

"But Mione, it's Malfoy!"

"I KNOW Ron!"

"**Well I think that's a great idea!" Ginny chimed in, "This whole argument between you and Malfoy has been getting on my nerves for quite some time. What Hermione did was very mature."**

"Thanks Ginny!" Hermione said smiling at her friend, Ron only glared at her.

"You know Gin... I think you and Mione are right, perhaps we should make a truce with Malfoy, too..."

"Harry! Now you, too?" Ron asked exasperated, "Is the whole world crazy?"

"No Ron," Harry explained trying to calm him down, "But remember what the sorting hat said in fifth year, it's time that the houses unite. We already made a start with Pansy, Blaise and some others, why shouldn't it be the same with Malfoy?"

"Well, because he is..._Malfoy,_" he said weakly.

"You already said that brother dearest!"

"Well but it's true, he treated us the worst for all our time at Hogwarts!" he said pouting.

"Maybe, but we didn't do anything to make the situation better, we just fought back," Hermione reasoned.

"Let's do the following, we see how his truce with Mione goes and if it's successful we propose doing the same, what do you say?" Harry asked.

"Fine with me!" Ginny agreed.

"Yermhphfhm..."Ron grumbled, Harry and Hermione simply looked at him and then questioningly at Ginny.

"That means something like OK, if it's really necessary..."

After dinner Hermione, Ron and Ginny went together with the other Gryffindor Prefects to their reunion room in order to hold a Prefects meeting which was scheduled for the night. The meeting was the first which would also be attended by the Heads of Houses that year, as they wanted to give them some instructions for the organisation of the Yule Ball.

"Well, we'll start checking if everybody is here," Hermione said.

"Fifth year Prefects: Slytherin, Clarisse Renier and Geoffrey Pendelton; Hufflepuff, Sue Ellen Mc Pierce and Steven Glover; Ravenclaw, Lara Barns and David Mitchell; Gryffindor, Sharon Clarke and Benjamin Rivers." Draco began, seeing that the fifth years were all there.

"All right then, next the sixth year Prefects," Hermione continued, "Slytherin, Malcom Braddock and Stacie Lange; Hufflepuff, Rachel Warren and Peter Carter; Ravenclaw, Jade Perry and Chris Perry; Gryffindor, Virginia Weasley and Colin Creevy."

When they saw that the sixth years were also all there, Draco concluded with the seventh years, "Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson; Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Flatley; Ravenclaw, Michael Corner and Claire Higgins, Gryffindor, Ronald Weasley."

"Us two heads and the professors are also here, so we can start the meeting right away." Hermione finished, "the professors will begin this meeting by telling us all about the Yule Ball. Afterwards we'll decide who'll be responsible of preparing what for the ball."

"Before we officially start the meeting though," Draco chimed in, "I'd like you to remember your housemates that on Halloween everybody is supposed to wear a costume."

A few groans were heard when he said this, mostly form the boys.

"Don't groan now, the motion for this was approved last year, you were warned before summer vacation so you had a lot of time to think about and buy a costume. Just remember that no magic is allowed for the costume. Of course you are allowed to dress as something magical, what you may not do is put a charm on your costume, it's a costume day muggle style. On Valentine's Day however there will be a costume ball and then you can't put as many charms on yourself and your dress as you want," Hermione explained.

"Well, now that that's clear the professors can tell us all about the Yule Ball," Draco finished.

"Thanks Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger. Like every other year you Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl will be responsible for organising the whole thing. You'll have to take care of the decorations, of the music and discuss a menu with the house elves. There's another thing.... As you may remember it's tradition that the Prefects and Head Students open and close the ball. You'll be required to dance with one another the first and the last dance. You can choose your partner among yourselves though, except for Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger, they, being Head Boy and head Girl will have to dance together. For the rest of the evening though you can be with your respective dates. I hope there's no problem for you?" professor McGonagall asked lifting an eyebrow.

"You must be kidding! That's impossible!"

"I'm not kidding, and I believe this matter is none of your concern Mr. Weasley. I asked Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger and as long as you didn't suddenly become either of them you have no saying in this. So, is there any problem with the two of you?" she asked her brightest students again.

Hermione and Draco exchanged a quick glance and came to a silent agreement.

"Not at all professor, I'm sure Malfoy and I will be able to pull it through, we are grown up people after all and it's only two dances."

"I agree with her, I'm sure there'll be no problem. Granger and I already sorted out our differences and decided to make a truce. This should be no problem."

"Is that so?" professor Dumbledore inquired, amusement barely hidden in his voice, "Well, I'm more than pleased I must say, a great example for the other students."

"Ermh... thanks professor..." Hermione answered awkwardly, she had the strange feeling that he was up to something, that this whole 'truce' business had given him ideas.

"We only did what we thought was right, in fact, it was actually Arianne's idea..." Draco said sharing Hermione's feeling, suddenly he thought that he didn't want to be thought of as the person starting the truce.

"Oh, yes, Arianne is a wise woman, she knows exactly what she's talking about... especially in regard to this."

"What do you mean professor?" Hermione asked curiously.

"It will be better she tells you herself when she feels she is prepared, let's just say it's personal and I don't want to betray her trust."

Hermione nodded.

"Uhhhm, sorry, but are we gonna start organising the ball or what?" Chris Perry, the most impatient of them, asked.

"Hmmm, yeah, sure..." Draco and Hermione said in unison, embarrassed to have trailed so much out of topic.

When they were finished, everyone had something to do, the seventh year prefects were going to take care of the music (they had decided they would make a sort of disco with both muggle and wizard music), the sixth years would design a decoration plan for the Great Hall and the rest of the castle which would be approved by the rest of the Prefects (or not) and then they would do the decorating together and the fifth years would put up am menu and talk to the house elves as well as design the menu cards.

"I'll ask Alex if she could be D.J., that way no student would have to miss the ball to do so and she has knowledge of both types of music anyway." Hermione suggested when they were finishing.

"Good idea!" Claire Higgins agreed, "She would be perfect!"

"When and where can we meet to discuss what bands and which songs to play?" Michael Corner asked.

"How about we meet first tomorrow at five in the Head Common Room? Our password is 'Tibbelupp' (they had already changed it). Hey! We couldn't think of something better!" he defended himself noticing the amused glances he was receiving from the Prefects.

When they were about to exit the room Hermione and Draco were held back by professor Dumbledore.

"I was very pleased about your decision I must say. I wanted however to ask a favour of you. As you already are on speaking terms, would you mind calling each other by the first name? I think it would make an even better impression on the students and help even more to restore the inter house relationships."

The brunette and the blonde looked questioningly at each other and came once again to a silent agreement.

"Sure professor, we can do that." Draco said nodding.

"I don't think there'll be a problem with that, we'll just need some time to get used to it." Hermione said.

When they came out the door they found Ron, Ginny and Pansy who were obviously curious about what Dumbledore had wanted from them.

"So, what was that about? What did he tell you?" Pansy asked eagerly.

"Oh he wanted Mal...I mean Draco and I to be on a first name basis!" Hermione informed them.

"And you agreed to it?" Ron asked scandalised.

"Please Ron, I don't want to start this discussion all over again! Yes, I said yes, if you have a problem with that... well, then it's your problem!" Hermione snapped at him.

"Really, you should stop being so childish!" his sister scolded him.

"I get you have something against Hermione's and my truce then Weasley?" Draco asked with his trademark smirk.

"Draco, for the sake of this truce, better leave Ron alone!" Hermione warned him.

"OK, OK, but only this time. I'll leave you to talk to your friends and see you later in the common room."

"Thanks Draco, see you later!"

"Good night Draco!"

"Night Pansy, Weasleys..." he said and walked off, leaving Hermione alone with Pansy, Ron and Ginny.

"I think it's really cool that the two of you are starting to get along Mione!" Pansy said enthusiastically, "He's the only other Slytherin in our year that I'm currently friends with, except Blaise of course."

"May I repeat, we are talking about Malfoy here!" Ron insisted, the girls ignored him.

"Well, he isn't so bad once you stop arguing, he can be a nice guy if he tries. We already had a pretty interesting discussion about literature," Hermione said.

"He definitely is the best speaking partner for you, after all his grades are only a few points below yours..... Smart and sexy, a rare combination!" Ginny sighed dreamily.

"Hey!... What? Ginny, how can you..." Ron stuttered... and was once again ignored.

"He does look good, doesn't he?" Pansy agreed, "It's no secret that there was a time when I fancied him. Another person took over his place though," she said grinning sheepishly.

"I don't blame you for once fancying him, he is awfully good looking... What?" Hermione defended herself when she saw the amused glances her two best female friends were giving her, "I'm not blind after all and a girl just like any other. The fact that we argued constantly didn't make me immune to his looks you know?"

"Ugh, too much nasty information, brain about to melt, nervous breakdown near... I must go... eat some sweets...by girls," Ron mumbled incoherently while turning around and tumbling down the corridor.

Ginny grinned, "Poor Ron,I think that was a little bit too much for him!"

"You should hope he doesn't tell Harry that you think Draco is hot though," Hermione warned her.

"Bah! Harry knows that he's the one and only, I was just stating the facts, and fact is that Harry being my boyfriend doesn't make Malfoy any uglier!"

"That's wisely spoken my young friend!" Pansy said in a teacher to student tone (or rather Jedi knight to his Padawan (sp?))

"So, now that Ron is gone what shall we do?" Ginny asked.

Hermione thought for a moment and suddenly an idea popped into her head, "What would you think if we fetched Luna and the four of us have a sleepover in my room? We can chat about school, guys, movies and everything else which comes into our minds!"

"Great idea! We could also tell ghost stories! Pansy does that so good!"

"I also think that would be great , but are we allowed to do this and won't we disturb Draco?"

Hermione shrugged Pansy's concerns off, "McGonagall told Draco and me that we could have people sleeping over in our rooms as long as they were of the same sex, for an exception we would have to ask for allowance, but as the three of you are girls... and referring to Draco, there's a silencing charm on the bedrooms ,just to ensure the privacy, else I wouldn't always sing on top of my voice whenever I feel like it!"

"What would be the problem if he heard you? Your voice is nice enough!" Ginny inquired.

"Singing is a very personal thing for me, I do it according to my mood. You girls are the only ones I actually told about it and who heard me sing, not even Harry and Ron have an idea, they wouldn't understand."

Pansy nodded, "I get what you want to say, so if there's no problem with the sleepover thing let's do just that. Where's the Ravenclaw common room?" she asked Hermione who, being Head Girl was bound to know the location and the password to the room.

"This way!" the brunette answered leading the way. After they had collected Luna who was instantly thrilled by the suggestion the four girls went to the Head Common Room.

"Whoa! What is this?" Draco asked when he saw them all enter.

"We are having a sleepover!" Hermione answered grinning.

"Great! Can I take part in it?" he asked smirking playfully, shortly before being ambushed by an avalanche of couch pillows thrown at him, "I reckon that's a no!" he said nonchalantly.

"If you excuse Ginny and me now, we are using your direct accesses to the Slytherin and Gryffindor Common Rooms to get our things for the nigh," Pansy said.

"All right, Luna and I will be waiting for you in my room! Good night Draco!" Hermione told him before entering her room with Luna.

"Night Hermione, night Lovegood!"

"Night Malfoy!"

About ten minutes later the girls lay on mattresses Hermione had conjured up for them. She lay down on one, too, feeling she would miss part of the fun if she just slept on the bed.

"Soooo, Pansy, did Blaise ask you to the ball already?" Ginny asked grinning at her older friend.

"No, he didn't, but there's still a long time to go, I'll get him to ask me though don't worry. And if the worst comes to the worst I'll just ask him. That's it!"

"Yes, after all we are in a modern society were women have just as many rights as men, or at least should have. It's your very right to ask him!" this came from Luna who received some strange glances from her friends for it, that did so not sound like the dreamy, absent minded girl they were accustomed to, Of course she noticed it, "My mom was pretty much into this feminism thing, my grandmother, too. She marched in all those protest marches for equal rights and stuff, I grew up with it and I guess some of it just stayed stuck in my head."

Her friends nodded and then Hermione asked her with a mischievous smile, "Does that mean then that you are going to ask Neville to go to the ball with you if he doesn't dare do it himself?"

Luna's face turned a nice shade of red and she nodded embarrassed, "Yes, I might actually do that."

Their discussion revolved around the ball for some more time and then they started telling ghost stories, in most of which the bad guy had a strangely great resemblance to professor Snape, what a coincidence....

Th rest of the weekend passed by rather quickly and soon classes started again. First thing on Monday morning... double Potions, yay!

Gloomily Harry and Ron walked down the corridors towards their doom, together with Hermione.

"Remind me again why I took advanced Potions on my own free will?" Ron asked darkly.

"Same reason as me mate, it's necessary to join Auror's Academy!" Harry answered in just the same tone of voice.

"Come on guys, it won't be that bad! Neville is a not in our class anymore so no cauldron blow ups." Hermione said cheerfully.

"Why are you so happy? We are having double Potions remember?" Ron asked her suspiciously (when somebody who isn't a Slytherin is happy before Potions it _is_ highly suspicious!).

"It's nothing, I just had a good weekend and am still in a happy mood. A little tip, if you have the feeling you want to strangle Snape during class just think about the result of the Quidditch match, that will bring a smile to your face!"

"I thought you didn't think too much of this ego boosting on Quidditch matches?" Harry asked her confused.

"I don't, but I know you two."

"Hey! What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Ron cried indignantly.

"It means that I know Quidditch is one of the most important things for you, even more than school," she answered grinning sheepishly

"Hmmm, I don't know, I think there was an insult hidden somewhere in there," Harry said mock suspicious.

"Me? Insult my friends? I am insulted, whoever gave you that idea? How can you be implying this? I'm seriously considering to end our friendship!" Hermione exclaimed acting hurt.

"Oh, please Mione, accept our apologies, we are deeply sorry, we'll never do that again!" Ron said exaggeratedly while throwing his arms around her.

"Yes Mione, we are cold, unfeeling bastards, please be our friend, pretty please with Hogwarts: A History on the top!" Harry mock begged putting on some really bad, fake puppy dog eyes.

"Hmmm, I can't say no to that!" she said patting them on their heads, soon the three of them were laughing and still were when they entered the classroom and sat down on their respective places.

"Care to share what is so funny you three?" Snape asked them rising a eyebrow.

"Nothing much professor, we were just joking around," Hermione answered politely and the three of them instantly stopped laughing.

"Very well, then I think we can start the class. Today we'll start with the Polijuice Potion, it's a very complicated one and it takes a long time to be ready. For this I'll put you in pairs. When I call your name go and sit with your partner."

As such few people had signed for advanced Potions the class held all four houses and still they were only ten.

"Well, as I want at least one Potion to turn out right, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger will work together, I think this should be no problem as the two of you made this wonderful truce," he said sarcastically.

Hermione simply nodded and went to sit beside Draco who was already putting out the items they needed.

"Next is Mr. Zabini with Ms. Parkinson."

"I wonder if Snape is aware of the fact that he is doing the two of them a favour," Draco whispered to Hermione.

At first she was surprised, how did he know? She quickly dismissed this however, he was an observant boy and Blaise was a good friend of his, he had probably told him he fancied Pansy, so she simply answered, "I don't think so, he doesn't look like the matchmaker type to me. If he knew he was helping them he would probably run to the infirmary to check if he got some kind of disease from it."

Draco chuckled, "He isn't that bad you know? Though I guess for the Gryffindors he is bad, he seems to hold a special grudge against your house."

"Let's say he's got an unpleasant history with it!" Hermione answered grinning.

Meanwhile Snape had partnered everyone off and Hermione could see Harry was with the Ravenclaw prefect Claire Higgins while Ron was with Jeremy Lakeside, a Hufflepuff guy.

"The ingredients are written on the blackboard, copy them all down and then come forward to fetch the ingredients. I want to see you all work, if I find one of you leaving all the work to your partner points will be deducted from your house," he instructed looking directly at Ron and Harry.

"Honestly, can't he let it be? He knows exactly that Harry and Ron would never leave all the work to their partner!" Hermione muttered to herself, Draco heard her anyway.

"Don't bother, he just enjoys pissing them of."

"I know, I know!" the brunette answered with a sigh, "Did you already copy all the ingredients? Good, then let's fetch them!"

For the rest of the lesson both worked harmoniously together and were able to deliver a perfect potion (at least start a perfect potion as it takes weeks to brew it completely) before the rest of the class had worked out the problems they were having with theirs.

Snape was very pleased with himself for pairing those two together, they were a great team, he had to admit that, even if it itched him that one of them was a Gryffindor. Nevertheless he would inform the other teachers so they could take profit out of his discovery, it was always difficult to find ideal partners for projects. Oh and how he had handled that matter with Parkinson and Zabini! Now don't get it wrong, he hadn't had the intention of playing matchmaker, such thoughts caused a great revulsion in him, he was only tired of the longing glances the two were throwing at each other, of course he had noticed them, he wasn't blind and not solely focused on catching 'the boy who lived to remind him of his annoying father' doing something wrong! Of course, so Snape thought, this stares and silent sighs disturbed his classes and broke the students attention (even if most of them were oblivious to those exchanges) and the two didn't pay attention to what was said in class (even though they participated normally and their grades hadn't dropped). No, Severus Snape did not want to play matchmaker! He had just done it for the sake of his class... or at least that was what he told himself when he thought the day over later in his quarters. His reverie was interrupted when he heard an owl tapping on the window.

Meanwhile Alex was sitting in hers correcting some essays written by the sixth years. She just wrote an 'O' under Virginia Weasley's when an owl flew through her window and stretched its left paw so she could get the letter it had been carrying. After doing so Alex stroked the feathers of the all too familiar animal.

"Hey Scythe, are you bringing me a letter form Zack?" the eagle owl nibbled affectionately on her finger and hooted friendly.

"Well then, let's see what he writes... Oh, wait a minute!" she cried and then conjured up a small tray with some fresh water for the pet, "Here, get some refreshment, you must be terribly tired, just rest while I read the letter and write an answer."

When she opened her letter however she found it wasn't from her fiancé but from her soon to be sister in law, Jeanne.

_Hey Alex!_

_What's up? I bet you are wondering why I'm sending this with Scythe, easy, I also wrote to uncle Sevie and used my owl to send him the letter, so I needed and owl for yours and which one is better than my dear brother's very own one? Ok, I'm ranting about non interesting stuff and you want to know why I'm writing (except for the fact that we are friends but you know how much I hate to write letters, I'm just plain lazy and I had promised Mione I would write.... Tell her I'm very sorry and that I'm a lazy no good asshole and that I will write soon... hopefully) arrgh!!!! I'm going off topic again. What I wanted to tell you and uncle Sevie is that I'll be visiting over the winter holidays for a few days so I can spend time with you, uncle Sevie and Mione... well and my brother of course by I'm not coming specifically for him even if I do not see him as often as I used to now that he works._

_Well, that's all (amazingly long letter, huh?), give my regards to Mione. I'll make sure to get her a cool book for Christmas to make up for not answering to her coughfivecough letters._

_Love, hugs and kisses,_

_Your "sister" Jeannie._

_P.S.: Someday I'll kill my brother for giving me that nickname, unfortunately I can't come up with something better!_

Alex lay the letter aside laughing, Jeanne had always been a crazy chick and awfully fun to hang around with, some of Hermione's new confidence came also from spending time with her, they had become great friends and could be found talking about their common passion, reading, for hours. Jeanne had also helped Hermione become more outgoing, she had taken her to parties and dragged her to the beach (she loved doing both and was convinced that such activities were compatible with love for books). Soon Alex' cousin had discovered that she was able to let go, have fun and forget about studies for some time if she really wanted to and she had needed it badly, the stress with Voldemort and the NEWTS had been nagging on her energies for quite some time and for the first time in a long period she had really relaxed, now she would be able to face everything with a clear head and it would be important, for everyone knew she was the brains behind the trio's (now rather the group of seven with growing number) adventures.

Remembering Scythe was waiting for a letter to carry back she quickly wrote a few lines of response and send the owl back, then she took out a new parchment, wrote a few lines down and asked her own owl, Nefer, to deliver it to her cousin.

Head Boy/Girl common room

Hermione sat on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace in which a fire was already cracking merrily for, despite the fact that it wasn't even winter, the weather was very cold and heavy rain clouds were building in the sky, promising a heavy storm for the night. At the moment she was reading the second book in a trilogy by Nora Roberts which she loved very much.

"Studying again?" Draco asked when he entered the room after he had had a shower.

"No, just reading!" she said absent minded, obviously too caught up in the plot.

"What book is it?" he asked curiously for he had never seen her read something which wasn't somehow related to school.

Hermione simply lifted the cover so he could read the title, when he saw it he grinned, "That suits you!"

Puzzled she looked up at him, "What do you mean it suits me?" she asked frowning.

"Well, 'Key of Knowledge', the title suits you! Is it a book about how you gain an overall knowledge?" he asked grinning.

"Haha!" she said sarcastically, "For your information Mr. Smart-ass, it's a romance novel with some fantasy elements, my life doesn't revolve around studying only."

"I never would have thought I'd live to see the day were I would see Hermione Granger read a romance novel!" he said shaking his head in wonder.

"Are you making fun of me?" she asked, mock suspicious.

"Innocent little me? Never!" he cried innocently.

Hermione huffed amused and was about to answer when her cousin's owl tapped on the window.

"Nefer? Why on earth would Alex write me a letter? Let's see..." she said opening the envelope while Nefer disappeared into the night to catch some mice for dinner.

The short note read:

_Hey Mione!_

_I just received a letter form Jeannie and thought you'd want to know she'll be coming over during the winter holidays for some time. I thought I'd write to you immediately before I forget to tell you tomorrow, I would have come by personally, but I still have a lot of exams to correct._

_See you tomorrow in class,_

_Alex _

_P.S.: Good night!_

"Good news?" Draco asked her when he saw her grin.

Hermione nodded, "My friend Jeanne, the little sister of Alex' fiancé, will be coming here to spend a few days during the Christmas holidays!"

"Those are Snape's nephew and niece, aren't they?" he inquired.

The brunette nodded, "I still wonder how Snape will act towards the other Gryffindors and me in front of those two, they are close friends of mine," she informed him.

He grinned at the thought, "It will be fun to watch!"

Before they knew it, the rest of the week had passed and it was Saturday morning, also known as Halloween or All Hallows Eve. On this special morning everybody was up early, getting into their costumes and, depending on what you went as, applying make up.

Draco Malfoy, clad in an 'Spike from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer' inspired vampire costume, his hair like always stylishly held out of his face with gel, paced the common room waiting for Hermione. Since they had started the truce they had started to really get along and he had the suspicion that their relationship was heading towards the status of friendship. Surprisingly to him, he found that this thought didn't disturb him, it rather intrigued him and he wanted to know how it would feel like, being friends with Hermione Granger. Right now however he was waiting for her to come out of her room so they could walk together to the Great Hall like it had become their routine since the truce. Suddenly he heard her calling out to him.

"OK, I'm coming out now!"

He turned towards her door and saw it open, when the space was wide enough to reveal her he would have sworn his heart skipped a beat and his breath was cut short as if somebody had punched him in the stomach, ...hard.

She looked... well, breathtaking. She wore a knee long, red dress. It was a spaghetti straps dress, the top was tight fitting and the skirt was loose and of the kind which twirled around you when you turned. Over the dress she wore a cape with a hood which was currently draped back so you could see her hair which was in a high ponytail with two bangs framing her face, in her right hand was a basket.

"So? What do you say?" she asked twirling around so the skirt danced around her legs flatteringly.

He fought hard not to stare at them and then for words, "Uhm... WOW! You look fantastic! Just... who or what are you supposed to be?"

Hermione grinned mischievously, "I'm Little Red Riding Hood!"

"Little Red Riding Hood? Last time I heard the story she was an innocent little girl. She surely didn't look like that!" he said, his mouth agape.

"Yeah, well, I'm the Chanel Nº 5 advertisement with Estella Warren version of her!" she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Care to explain?" he asked confused.

"Chanel Nº 5 is a muggle perfume and Estella Warren is an actress. There's an advertisement for this perfume where she wears a costume pretty similar to this and there's also a wolf in it."

"Aha!" he answered although he still didn't understand a thing, however he preferred not to appear dumb and let go of the topic, "So, let's go downstairs?" he asked her.

She nodded happily, "Let's!"

When they entered the Great Hall a few minutes later almost every guy followed Draco's example at Hermione's appearance, needless to say that many girlfriends were pretty pissed and several guys earned themselves a swat over the head for staring.

Ginny grinned at her friend as soon as she sat down beside her.

"That's a killer outfit you have there, I knew the second you showed it to me that it would be a complete success! Look at this!" she said still grinning while wawing her hand in front of her boyfriend who was staring with an open mouth at Hermione, "Completely gone, no reaction! And they are your best friends, they haven't even seen you as a girl for the longest time... Hey Harry! Snap out of it!" she told her boyfriend snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Huh? What?" he asked coming out of his daze, "What's up?"

"You were staring at me as if I was an alien!" Hermione told him amusedly.

"What? No, that's utter crap! I mean... you do look...hot, but you are my best friend and I have a girlfriend and I don't look at other girls and..." he stammered.

Ginny had to fight hard not to laugh at his helpless attempt to get himself out of the embarrassing situation, "Oh, I don't know, for me it looked an awful lot like staring!" she said evilly.

"Ginny please, it wasn't my intention, please forgive me!" he desperately said, looking pleadingly into her eyes and taking every word seriously.

"Hmm, I don't know if you should forgive him Gin, after all, if he looks like that at his best friend, how will he look at other girls?"

Harry looked at Hermione in alarm, why was she doing that? As one of his best friends, as his surrogate sister, shouldn't she be on his side?

"I share Hermione's opinion Gin, you should dump him, the best thing you can do is say goodbye to the guys forever and become a nun!" her brother joined in the conversation.

"Dream on Ron!" Ginny answered dryly.

"Besides," Lavender said smiling mischievously, "You were ogling at Hermione just like he was!"

Ron turned his usual beet red, "What? I? No! You got that wrong! I wasn't..."

The girls laughed, "Relax guys!" Lavender said. "I was just a joke!" Ginny agreed.

"So, you are not mad with us?" Harry asked with a hopeful look in his green eyes.

"Of course they aren't!" Hermione said grinning.

"Well, then I can eat with a clean conscience!" Ron declared and immediately began piling food on his plate.

"What did Malfoy say to your outfit?" Ginny asked her curiously in between two bites of pancake.

"He was flabbergasted! He hardly brought a word out... and he couldn't believe this is a Little Red Riding Hood costume!"

"THAT is little Red Riding Hood?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Chanel Nº 5 ?" Harry asked knowingly.

"Yup!" Hermione answered before explaining to Ron what that meant (she had already told Ginny when she had showed her and the other girls the costume on the night of the sleepover.

The feast that night was extraordinary. Pumpkins with scary faces carved into them and lit with candles floated in the air and were the only source of light that evening, the tables looked as if they hadn't been dusted for ages, cob webs were everywhere and it turned out they were made of sugar and therefore edible, all drinks had been charmed to look like blood and the meals were also made in a way they looked suspicious but were still as tasty as ever. For dessert there were cakes in various forms: witches, ghosts, monsters...

During all of this, Hermione had enough time to register what everyone was wearing. Lavender and Parvati who had developed a great love for muggle teen movies during summer were both dressed as cheerleaders in matching outfits, a costume which definitely suited them. Dean was dressed in a David Beckham soccer outfit for which he received strange glances from all those who weren't familiar with the muggle sport. Seamus was clad in a Leprechaun costume which looked very good on him. Ginny was dressed as an elf (the tall, Lord of the Rings type), she even carried a bow and a quiver with arrows with her, her hair was in a long braid which she had tossed over the shoulder. Harry was dressed as medieval knight and sported a long plastic sword which hung by his hip. Ron wore a costume which represented a very famous wizard singer who also had red hair, just like him, the resemblance he now held to him was amazing. Luna was a unicorn, she wore white tight fitting pants and shirt, had let her hair loose and a horn which she had made herself somehow bound to her forehead, it looked really good. Pansy was dressed as devil, she wore a red dress of the same length as Hermione's, the difference being it was all tight fitting. She had also let her hair loose and sported some red plastic horns on her head (of the kind you find attached to a bow in costume shops) which matched her dress in colour. Blaise was a vampire just like Malfoy (sometimes guys have such a poor imagination) he wore similar clothes to his best friend's and his dark brown hair was also gelled back.

The teachers had also put on the funniest costumes. Snape was a bat, an extremely fitting choice as Hermione thought; McGonagall was dressed as Morticia Addams, how she knew the series the Head Girl didn't know, another mystery about her Head of House she'd have to solve beside the thing with the Lord of the Rings books... Professor Dumbledore wore a Marshmallow-Man costume, no comments needed on that one! Professor Flitwick was Cupid, he looked really horrible in diapers! Professor Sprout was a ghoul and Hagrid a caveman, all in all the costumes muggle style had been a success!

Me: "OK, that was the ninth chapter, guess I was wrong last time when I said it would take long to have a chapter as long as chapter 8, this one is even a bit longer! And, the last chapter and this together are as long as all those coming before are together, cool huh?""

Pansy: "That's at least a way of making up for the long wait for chappie 8"

Me: "You could say that!"

Draco: "This was a revelation to me, I didn't know you could look so hot Granger!"

Mione: "Shut up Malfoy!"

Me: "Children, behave!"

Draco: "We are not children, I am eighteen years old since the end of August!"

Mione: "And I since middle of September!"

Pansy: "I won't be till March, but I'm still a grown up in the wizarding world."

Me: "Maybe, but you are still younger than I am, so I can call you children, If I can call my younger sister baby to annoy her (she's 15 ) I can do that to you!"

Draco: "Yes but_ we_ can curse you!"

Me sweetly: "Have you already forgotten what I told you about my powers as an author?"

Draco nervously: "Uhm... call me whatever you like, just don't make me kiss Snape or wear a pink tutu!"

Me mischievously: "Or both...."

Draco horrified: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Pansy & Mione amused: "Hahahahahaha!"

Me: "Goodbye everyone! Don't forget to review and tell me your opinion on the Crabbe and Goyle thing please!"

**I STILL NEED ANSWERS TO THE CRABBE AND GOYLE SURVEY!!!!! PWEAASEEE!!!!**

**Answers to your reviews:**

**Lucius Sikilmituile:** Hey Lusiki, thanks a lot for your wonderful review, I love getting reviews, especially from my best friend (hint, hint). HDL

**Reb: **I'm glad to know at least some people read the final discussions, they are almost a story in itself, I'm happy that you like them so much. Poor Draco gets tortured by us, perhaps we should be friendlier... nah! It was great finding a review from you again and thanks heaps for your support hugs.

**Hottennispro 88: **Thanks for answering the survey, so far I have two (different) answers. I still don't know what to do, well, time will tell. I also don't particularly like stories where they jump right into a relationship, but I have one where they are already together, post Hogwarts (the fic is not about their romance specifically). In this one their friendship will develop, I'm thinking about letting them have their first date for the Valentine's Day ball.... But before that, Christmas and Ariannes's sad story... and of course Zack's arrival and his and Alex's evil plot to bring them together (sparks but denial...) Anyway, keep the reviews coming please grins sheepishly I know I sound desperate, but I am!

**Lynx Irisa Black: **Cool name, I love it! Heh, good to see that somebody likes this story so much to bed for 10 minutes for an update, didn't think it was that good... your review was definitely an ego boost! Thanks a lot! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the ones before.


	10. Building a Friendship

**Disclaimer: **Nothing belongs to me, yada, yada, yada, you know the deal. Characters and places to J.K. (except those you don't recognise). Lyrics of the song below to Likin Park (as stated), lyrics from the song 'Here without you', which appear in the chapter, to '3 Doors Down'.

A/N 1: This chapter is dedicated to: **Hottennispro88, Confused-Gal, Reb and K.**

A/N 2:

Me: sighs "Sorry this took so long, but uni and finals took up most of my time. Today however it's snowing. Yep! Snowing in Barcelona, Spain. Happened before!"

Pansy: looking out of window "It looks pretty!"

Hermione: nods "Very, I like snow!"

Draco: snorts "Typical"

Hermione glares "What's that supposed to mean?"

Draco: throwing uneasy glance in my direction "Uhm, nothing, don't listen to me…"

Me grinning: "As if we would ever consider doing so!"

Pansy: "You look happy."

Me: "I am! This chappy contains two of my favourite songs, quite a feat if you ask me, especially since this is the first chapter with a song at all!"

Hermione: nods "I love 'Here Without You', it's beautiful!"

Draco snorts "It's a girly song!"

Pansy indignantly "It's not!"

Me: shrugging "It could be that it is, but if a guy sings that to a girl she would surely melt… I would!"

Pansy + Mione: nod

Hermione: sweetly Could you bring a girl to melt with a song Draky-poo?"

Draco: mutters something incoherent

Hermione: smug "I thought so!"

Pansy + Me: giggle

Me: "O.K. now, enough of this, on with the story!"

…_. Can't you see that you're smothering me  
Holding too tightly  
Afraid to lose control  
'Cause everything that you thought I would be  
Has fallen apart right in front of you_

_Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow  
Every step that I take is  
Another mistake to you  
Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow  
And every second I waste  
Is more than I can take…_

_  
…And I know  
I may end up failing too  
But I know  
You were just like me  
With someone disappointed in you…_

_(Numb – Linkin Park Album: Meteora)_

_**Chapter 10: Building a Frienship**_

Halloween had been a week ago and everything in the castle had returned back to normality, meanwhile the relationship between Hermione and Draco was fast improving and could already be judged as a sort of strange friendship, a fact which still was a clue for her two brother figures and her friend Ginny, Pansy on the other hand couldn't be more happy with the development and Blaise was glad his best friend had started to get along with at least one of his former rivals and was being civil to the other two. Arianne, the portrait woman with the mysterious past however could see the promise of something else in their relationship, something every other person would have deemed impossible, something everybody else wouldn't even have thought of, something she knew all too well…

On that particular Saturday, Mione and Draco were sitting in their common room discussing the date for the next Quidditch match, Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff.

"Let's see;" Hermione started, "Taking into consideration the amount of things we have to fit into this school year and the fact that there are four more matches to go we have to fit it in before Christmas."

"Yeah, I see no other possibility," the blonde agreed, "That leaves only two weekends as and option for there are exams held near all the others."

"So, it's the second to next weekend or the one before the Jule Ball."

"I'd say we take the first, the week before the Jule Ball we'll be too occupied preparing that to concentrate on Quidditch and one of the players is a Prefect."

The brunette girl nodded, "I agree with that, so it is settled then, I say we pass the information to the common rooms now, they'll already be anxious, especially the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs."

"O.K., You take Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, I take Slytherin and Hufflepuff!"

The gathered the pamphlets and left the room through the direct accesses to their house common rooms, returning a few minutes later in order to walk the long way (unfortunately) to the other common rooms.

The news caused a huge commotion in the houses of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, their Quidditch captains immediately running to book the field for some serious practising time.

Hermione and Draco meanwhile sat in their common room talking about their lives and different upbringings.

"So, tell me Hermione, I wanted to ask you this long ago, if you are muggleborn, how come your cousin is also a witch?"

"Well, we wondered ourselves, you know? When I got the letter from Hogwarts they told me in there that my cousin was a witch, too which meant I could tell her, she received a letter from her school stating the same that year. We researched the matter and found out, that our great, great, great, etc. grandmother on our mothers side had been a witch, only the genes skipped a few generations and got out with two people in one generation instead."

"So I get it then that ancestor of yours married a muggle?"

"Exactly, she also left the wizarding world completely, apparently she liked the muggle way of living much better. It is said, that she had a horrible experience, apparently she saw her best friend being murdered by Duke Prophorn when they were only 23 and cut lose with everything reminding her of hat occurrence."

"Duke Prophorn? The dark master before Grindewald?"

"The very same!"

"Wow, your family really has history. Mine also fought in that war. At that time even against him. It was my father who went over to the dark side as you might call it. My grandfather was very disappointed in him, he would say that a Malfoy should never serve anyone, but my father is too blind to see that he is only the puppet of a man who would never share his power, no matter what he promises. I can't believe he really thinks I'm dying to follow in his footsteps."

"So you have no intentions in becoming a Death Eater?"

Draco looked at her as if saying "Are you crazy?"

Hermione smiled, "That's what I thought, at least since I know you better. But won't your father be…. let's just say, a little bit mad?"

"So what? He's in jail, it's not like he could do anything to me. Life has been much more pleasant for my mother and I since he was imprisoned. No one there to smother us, tell us what to think and how to act, what to say. It gave us the opportunity to think rationally about some of his truths. Take for example the purebloods are better than muggleborns thing. Before he was gone I didn't question it, He didn't give me room to do so, constantly poisoning my mind with new hateful paroles. But once he was gone I started thinking, wait a minute, if muggleborns are so lowly, then how come one bests me in every single subject no matter how hard I try? Of course, I had thought of that earlier, my mistake was asking my father. He crucioed me for implying mudbloods, sorry for the word, were better and told me I must be doing something wrong."

"I'm so sorry Draco!"

"Why? It isn't your fault! Although I confess I used to pretend it was. Why did you have to go and be better than I? But then I realised it was unfair of me to blame you, of course that only happened when my father was put away and I was free of his influence, because that's something he would have done, blaming someone else I mean. Fact is, some people are smarter and some people less. I'm smarter than most, but not as smart as you, that's life."

"Well, I'm just glad you don't resent me."

They were silent for a few seconds, each lost in their own thoughts until Draco spoke, his voice a bit hesitant, as if not sure if he should say what he wanted.

"Hermione?"

"Hm hm?" she asked, her thoughts still elsewhere.

"Are we….friends?

This brought her fully back to reality, she hadn't expected such a question, she glanced at the face of the young man sitting beside her on the couch, his expression was serious, but she could see uncertainty and insecurity in his eyes and she realised, that he was afraid of her answer. She pondered his question, were they friends already, was it possible after so little time? Deciding to listen to her heart instead of her brain, just like it should be done with such questions, she arrived at an answer quite quickly.

"I definitely think we are," she said nodding, "What about you?"

He smiled, she noticed, relived, "I think so, too."

"Harry and Ron will probably be shocked, Ginny not surprised and Pansy and Blaise happy, I think they were hoping we would become friends."

"Say, can I come with you when you tell Potter and Weasley? I want to see their faces!" the blonde asked grinning.

"Draco…" Hermione said, warningly.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You know exactly what!"

"No, I have no idea!"

"You're incorrigible!"

"Yeah!", he grinned playfully, "But you love me anyway.

The brunette simply rolled her eyes and shook her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Talking about Pansy and Blaise," she said, changing the theme, "Do you know if he is going to ask her to the Yule Ball? Pansy is kinda hoping for it."

"He wants to, but is afraid to do so since she turned so many guys down"

"She only did that because she is waiting for him to ask her!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that, does he?"

Hermione sighed, "Why don't you talk to him? He's your best friend, tell him she might be waiting for him to ask her, you even wouldn't be lying."

"Oh, I already told him that, his answer was, 'sure, of course, like she would wait precisely for me.'"

"Blaise is not too sure of himself, is he?"

"Usually he is, just not when it comes to Pansy! I'll try to talk to him again, anyway."

"Great, I'll have a chat with Pansy, maybe she can ask him out. That's what Luna intends to do if Neville doesn't ask her."

"Lovegood likes Longbottom?" Draco exclaimed incredulous.

"Yes," Hermione lifted an eyebrow, "Got a problem with that?"

Draco shook his head, "Not at all," he answered, "I just always thought she had the hots for Potter."

"No, they just have a good connection because she lost her mother, they understand each other. Besides, everyone can see Harry and Ginny are MFEO."

"M.F.E.O.? What does that mean? Is it another thing like spew?"

"It's not spew! It's S.P.E.W.! And M.F.E.O. means 'made for each other', of course!"

"Aha," he answered before glancing at his watch, "Look, it's nearly lunchtime, we should head down before we have to fight through the bustle of people thinking they will starve if they don't arrive on time."

"You mean like Crabbe and Goyle?" she asked sweetly.

He merely nodded, "And like Weasley," he added.

"Touché!"

During lunch Hermione informed her three friends about the change in her relationship with Draco. While Ginny stated she had seen it coming, Harry surprised Hermione by not really caring and even Ron said it was OK with him if being friends with Malfoy made her happy (even though he made a sour face while saying so).

Those events had Hermione walking back to the Common Room with a slightly puzzled expression after lunch.

"Everything all right?" Arianne asked upon seeing the girl being in such a daze.

"Yes, Ari, don't worry, I'm just surprised that my friends took the news of Draco and I being friends so well, pleasantly surprised, but still… it's strange, especially for Ron!" she explained.

Ari smiled softly, "Maybe you underestimated your friend's maturity," she suggested wisely.

Hermione had to smile back, "Yeah, that's probably it! Ron is usually so immature about things not going the way he is used to that contrary behaviour surprises me. I'm glad he's growing up though!"

"Everybody does, some earlier then others. But, take my advise, don't want to be an adult before you really have to, the childhood and the youth should be lived and enjoyed to it's fullest, you'll have to be all grown up and face the world soon enough, the times which are coming will force you to do so much to soon for my liking, you shouldn't have to be involved in this, nobody should. Unfortunately wherever there is light there is darkness trying to overcome it, it's the curse of life and mankind, there can be no real peace."

Hermione nodded, "You are right, but sadly people wouldn't appreciate peace if it wasn't for the war. It's the darkness which scares us and makes us yearn the light, but we have to overcome our fear of the darkness to be able to fight it."

"But remember, fear is good in some way, you have to overcome it, that is true, but the absence of fear can lure you into a false sense of security, if one is too sure of himself he can fail and then darkness prevails."

"Then we'll remain level headed and fight it, it shouldn't be a problem, at least not for me, I admit I'm scared witless of Voldemort!" Draco's voice was heard behind Hermione's back, she smiled at him in greeting.

"You heard us?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Just the last part, but I agree with Arianne, not being scared might turn out to be bad."

"I know, so does Harry, we were always scared on our adventures, but that didn't keep us from doing what we thought, and still think, was right… so, you're scared of Voldemort, too? You? The mighty Slytherin prince?" she asked with a smirk.

Draco grinned, "You have no idea how much! Don't tell anyone though, it would be bad for my rep and it's damaged enough, apparently people didn't take it too well that I'm friends with a certain Gryffindor muggle-born witch?"

She grinned, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to pass the news to the Daily Prophet as soon as possible," she teased.

"I knew I could count on you Mione," he retorted sarcastically.

Arianne had to laugh at their exchange, "I'm so glad you two get along now! I was a bit worried when I first saw you, I almost felt the headache that your constant yelling would cause me," she told them.

"I guess we didn't cause a good first impression," Draco admitted, "And I'm sorry that I was so rude on our first meeting," he added, shame creeping into his voice.

Arianne smiled down at him, "Don't worry, that was long ago forgotten, so, what are your plans for today?"

Hermione sighed, "Homework! There's a lot to do and a lot to study!"

Draco nodded in agreement, "I fear we can't stay here much longer, as interesting as this chat was."

Arianne nodded in understanding, "Don't worry, we'll continue another time."

"Count on it! Tibbelupp!" Hermione said and the portrait swung open, "See you later Arianne!"

"Later Ari!" Draco said, following the brown haired witch through the entrance.

"Bye you two! Have fun studying" the woman in the portrait called out to them.

The rest of the afternoon was pleasantly spent going over the immense amount of homework they had received over the weekend and once again they got a confirmation on how well they worked together, they complemented each other perfectly and understood the other without needing to resort to words, if Draco searched for another leaf of parchment Hermione would hand one over to him without him having to ask and without her looking up from her own work, when he stood up at one point and went to the bathroom he came back with two cups of hot cocoa, handing one to her and receiving a thankful smile in return, signifying she had been craving for the beverage but he had beaten her in the point of getting it.

On Sunday Hermione awoke to the sound of a storm raging outside, yawning she got out of bed and stumbled into the Common Room, finding it empty.

"Guess he's still asleep!", she thought, stifling another yawn. Then she proceeded to the bathroom and turned on some of the taps, letting the tub feel with warm water, the smell of jasmines, the essence she had chosen, soon filling her nostrils. Taking a deep breath in she smiled and went back to her room in order to retrieve her clothes for the day, so she could change into them as soon as she came out of the shower. She was almost out of the door when she was stuck by a thought, turned on her heels and went back into her room, straight towards her desk. Once there she opened one of the drawers and took out her discman, she had found a spell which would make it work in Hogwarts over the summer, it put some kind of barrier around it which protected it from all the magic in the air. Hermione had to smile at the irony, she used magic to protect it from the same! After finding the spell she had written to the Headmaster and asked for his allowance, he had conceded it to her, telling her it was his congratulatory present for her becoming Head Girl, besides, after finding the spell she deserved it!

She closed the drawer again and walked over to the shelf on which all of her CDs were stapled, she let one finger run over the spines until it reached the one she had been searching and pulled it out. It was one of her favourites, 'Away from the Sun' by '3 Doors Down'.

Having gathered all she needed she walked back to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, then she laid her neatly folded clothes down on a chair which stood in there for such purposes and sat her discman on top. After she put the CD in and pushed play she tapped the device gently with her wand and muttered 'Sonorus', soon the first chords of 'When I'm Gone' filled the air as Hermione got out of her clothes and let herself sink into the now full tub with a blissful sigh.

Some time later Draco awoke, outside the rain was still pouring heavily, lightning clashed and thunder rolled. He wanted to stay in bed a while longer, but his strict upbringing forbade him to waste the day and it was too deeply rooted into his customs to let go of it from one day to the other like he would have loved to do. Heaving a sigh of resignation he pushed back the covers and got out of bed. After dressing quickly he walked into the Common Room, it was empty, but through the closed bathroom doors filtered the lyrics of a song he didn't know, which surprised him since he was very in the know about the music in the wizarding world and the radios of their world were the only one which worked in Hogwarts. Furrowing his brows he concentrated harder on the lyrics, trying to relate them to any band he knew. However the music was already fading away, signifying the end of the song, another one starting immediately afterwards. Now Draco was even more intrigued, on the radio they usually announced the song they were about to play. He also noticed, that the voice of the singer was the same as the one of the song before, mystified he crept closer to the door in order to hear better."

'_A hundred days have made me older  
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face  
A thousand lies have made me colder  
And I don't think I can look at this the same _

_All the miles that separate  
Disappear now when I'm dreamin' of your face  
I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind _

_I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time  
I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight, there's only you and me. _

_The miles just keep rollin'  
As the people leave their way to say hello  
I've heard this life is overrated  
But I hope that it gets better as we go.'_

This was definitely not a song Draco knew, neither did the band sound familiar to him, he had to confess he liked it though, the music got to him, it touched something inside of him and that had never happened before. He often felt himself like life was not what it was cracked up to be, more then once he had found himself wondering why everybody said it was such a great gift and only lately, thanks to recent events, he had started to think that, maybe, life was worth living after all.

'_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time_

_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight girl, there's only you and me. _

_Everything I know, and anywhere I go  
It gets hard but it won't take away my love  
And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done.  
It gets hard but it won't take away my love.'_

Draco had to smirk, that was another lesson he had learned, something first Pansy and then Blaise had shown him. Nothing risked, nothing gained. He knew that he'd have to face many a trial if he wanted to keep his friendship with Hermione, but he knew it was worth it, after all, she had already made him question everything he supposedly knew, he had revised the 'truths' he believed in, finding they were utter crap and he was changing for the better as he thought. He knew however, that he still had a long way to go.

'_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time _

_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight girl, there's only you and me'_

The music faded away yet again and the blond Slytherin found himself surprisingly disappointed at the fact. He waited avidly for the next song, but nothing came. Instead the door opened to reveal a freshly bathed Hermione, she smelled of jasmine and held a strange device in her hand.

"Hey Draco! What were you doing there?" she asked, slightly surprised.

Much to his embarrassment he blushed a bit. Busted! "I heard music coming from the bathroom and uh, I wanted to know what it was!" she confessed grinning sheepishly.

Hermione smiled, "Oh, that! I was listening to one of my favourite CDs, but of course you don't know what that is…" she trailed off, then walked over to the couch motioning for him to follow her and sit down on the spot beside her, then she held the CD player in front of him, "This is a portable CD player, and this," she added flipping it open and taking the CD out, "Is a CD. The muggles store music on them. A band usually brings out a CD full of songs by them, many bands bring out more than one CD, depending on how long they last without splitting up and of course on their success. The band you were hearing is called '3 Doors Down'" she said, handing him the CD case after she had put the CD back into it, "And the title of the CD is 'Away from the Sun' as you can see. It's the group's second CD," she explained.

Draco stared at the contraptions in wonderment, who would have thought that muggles were able to create such amazing things?

"This is incredible," he whispered, awe clearly audible in his voice.

Hermione laughed, "If you want we can listen to the whole CD now," she suggested.

Draco gave her his best puppy dog eyes as an answer, making her laugh even harder.

"Very well then!" she said, putting the CD back in and putting the sonorus charm back on her discman (which resulted in her having to tell Draco why it was necessary to do so, which led to a promise on her part to let him listen to the music through the headphones later).

That way they spent their morning, listening to Hermione's CDs and talking about life in general until it was time for lunch. Only then did they notice that they had forgotten about breakfast.

On Monday during Careof Magical Cretures, which they had after Double Potions, Hagrid informed them during his class that the Tibbelupp project was over, however, due to the animals' attachment to their caretakers they were allowed to keep them, if they wanted and their parents agreed. Everybody was happy and relieved about the news, because, even though some didn't want to confess it, they had grown quite fond of their little friends.

"Ye can come an' pick 'em up after yer classes," the friendly half giant told them, "So ye wont haf ter worry about 'em."

The students smiled at him gratefully and went to their DADA class, eager to see what Alex had in store for them now that they had finished Vampires

"Morning Alex!" they greeted their young teacher while filling into the room.

"Good morning you lot!" she answered with a smile, "Did you have a good weekend?" she asked.

"We did! How about you?" Seamus Finnigan asked curiously, they hadn't seen her around like they usually did.

"A wonderful weekend, I went home to visit my fiancé and my friends, and of course start with the arrangements for the wedding."

Most girls in the class sighed dreamily when the 'w' word fell, Hermione just smiled, she would have to tag along when the preparations were more advanced, she was going to be one of the bridesmaids after all, that meant a lot of dress fittings and pre wedding dinners as well as family gatherings. She was looking forward to seeing everybody once again. But first Jeanne and Zack would come to visit during the winter holidays.

"All right! If we are done reviewing the weekend we can start with our new topic… Banshees, a personal favourite of mine. Now, some might think Banshees are women who are constantly PMSing, but that's not all there is to them, they are complex creatures and very interesting. For the rest of the period Alex filled them in on Banshees, how they came to be, how their scream killed people, but only those who were meant to hear it could. The only other beings which could hear them were dogs. She also told him that Banshees lived off of the sadness and the despair of their victims, that's why they killed people who were depressed of scared, leading the police to think they had committed suicide.

When it was time to finish the class Alex smiled at the students who had been eagerly listening to her.

"O.K. As homework read the chapter on Banshees in your books and write down how to protect yourself against them. Such knowledge might very well come in handy some day."

Talking among themselves the students exited the room, heading over the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione and Draco had to run by the Headmasters office first however in order to drop the schedules for that week's patrols and Head/Prefect duties afterwards the two headed to lunch were themselves, were they sat down with their respective friends.

"Hey Mione!" Ginny greeted the brunette as she said down.

"Hey Gin! Hey Guys!"

"Hweimone!" Ron greeted, still chewing. Causing Hermione to scrunch up her nose.

"Honestly Ron," she chided, "That's disgusting!"

Ron gave her a sheepish smile and ate on.

Harry smiled at his friends' usual bickering, "Hey Mione," he greeted the girl, "In case you hadn't heard about it, we have an DA meeting tonight at 19.00h."

"Thanks Harry, I did indeed not know. Was everybody else informed?" she asked, ever the organised person.

"Yup, everybody knows!" Ginny confirmed.

Hermione nodded, "Anything important which needs to be discussed or is this a regular meeting? I mean, usually they are on Wednesdays…" she asked Harry, he was the one in-the-know of these things.

"Just a regular meeting," he answered, "There are a few new curses and counter curses as well as some helpful charms Alex wants to teach us. She just has an to run by the Ministry Wednesday afternoon, that's why it is today."

"Your cousin is really cool Mione," Parvati piped up, "I don't think I've told you this often enough."

Hermione laughed, "Believe me, you did. But I knew that anyway, she's a great person."

"And she has a great fashion sense!" Lavender added, "It's so cool how she combines muggle and magic elements, I wish I knew how to do that!" she sighed a bit enviously.

"Don't worry Lav, you'll figure it out. It took Alex some time, too to find the perfect balance and I'm sure she'd give you a few tips if you asked her."

The Gryffindors chatted on until it was time to leave for their afternoon classes, starting with Arithmancy for Hermione and Divination for the rest. Following that was Transfiguration. After sitting through an exciting lecture on human transfiguration, which was especially helpful for those wanting to become animagi later in life, the students packed their things together and walked to their last class for the day, History of Magic. After listening to Professor Binns drone on and on about Troll wars and Goblin revolutions for an hour _again_ the students left the classroom, fighting a hard battle against the sleep which was stubbornly trying to overcome them. Holding back yawns and stretching languidly they walked to their Common Rooms in order to get their homework done and, in some cases, prepare for that night's DA meeting.

Me: "So, that was it! I can't think of anything else to write for this chapter. The last bit was a bit foced as you might have noticed, I was running out of ideas…"

Pansy: "I'm sure the next one will be better"

Draco: scoffs

Hermione: glaring, hissing (she does that a lot to him huh?) "Do you have a problem Malfoy?"

Draco: frightened "Uhm, no, why?"

Mione: threateningly "Good"

Me: grinning "Let's leave those two arguing! See you next time dear readers!"

Pansy: "Yeah, bye! And don't forget the Crabbe/Goyle poll!"

Mione continues to glare at Draco, oblivious to surroundings

Draco: tries to hide under Magical Soul's desk, also oblivious to surroundings

AND NOW… **ANSWERS TO YOUR REVIEWS!**

**Hottennispro88**: Thanks for your review! I'm glad I could transmit the typical guy reaction like I wanted to. I hope you liked the chapter, it isn't one of my best, but I'm a bit under stress…

**Confused-Gal**: I'm really glad you like the story so far (no-duh, which author wouldn't like that). Thank you for answering to the poll, right now it looks as if they are both going to turn to the dark side eerie Star Wars music .

**Reb**: No problem about the dedication thing. I think it's only fair if I dedicate the chapter to those who actually take the time off their schedule to review my chapters. I feel really flattered that you preferred reading my chapter to watching the movie you wanted to see! blushes Thank you also for answering to the poll!

**K**.: Ich hab keine Ahnung was du meinst… mir kam der Buchtitel üüüberhaupt nicht bekannt vor! Der war frei erfunden! Ehrlich! Du bildest dir nur Dinge ein! H.D.L.

Snowy winter greetings from Barcelona,

Magical Soul


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